From Slum to Soldier
by UnchainedMelody94
Summary: A girl in SOLDIER, and an enemy worth fighting. Looks like Shin-ra signed up for more than they bargained for when they offered the girl protection. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**_I'm going through this story again and fixing some of the errors, and I may be tweaking the plot a little bit, but nothing too drastic. Hope to have chapter 33 up soon!_**

**_This chapter is basically setting the scene, so just please bare with it! xx_**

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**Chapter 1**

The ground on which she lay was hard and cold. Metal. Or stone. Her breath was ragged and she was once again trying to force herself up. She couldn't lose again! It was impossible that he could be so much better than her. But her arms were too weak, too tired.

Darkness was closing in on her from all sides, her vision blurring as a pair of feet approached her. They stopped a foot away. A man's soft chuckle. One of the feet raised out of sight before it brought yet more pain as it crashed onto her face. Blood spattered the ground as she grunted and fought the tears away, to no avail.

''Please…'' her voice sounded weak and distant, ''please stop.''

The voice above her laughed again.

''Failure…''

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The summer sun was sinking low behind the buildings of Midgar, casting beams of golden light down a dank and dirty alleyway down in the slums. It was filled with stray garbage bags and bins, and ran between two houses. A warm breeze blew down there causing old newspapers to flutter across the dry cracked ground.

The only sound apart from the occasional twittering of birds was a faint humming. This humming was coming from a girl sitting under the fire escape of one of the flats and mending some old rags with a rusty needle and poor quality thread. Her nimble hands worked efficiently as she hummed her tune, quickly patching up the holes in the material she was holding. She looked up once, but only briefly, to bid farewell to the setting sun and became aware of the fact that she needed to work faster if she was to complete her work by the time night set in.

She hadn't been in Midgar long, a week or so about. Up until about a month ago, she had very little recollection of her life – if you could call it that. Best not to think about that, it wouldn't do much good. Suffice to say that she was still growing accustomed to life outside in the open. Her past was still hazy to her. Sometimes she had dreams about it, but woke up the next day with the memories slipping away into the dense fog of her subconscious. It frustrated her to no end...

One thing she could be certain of though was that she had left some very dear friends behind somewhere, in Wutai.

Something had happened and they had got separated at some point. Through lucky chance she had been able to make her way to Midgar and began to make herself a life on the streets. Others who lived in the slums had taken her under their wings and helped her out when she first arrived with unkempt, matted hair, and torn ripped clothing. She looked a bit better now; her long brown hair hung neatly down her back, she'd got some different clothing, and thanks to a good few meals she wasn't all skin and bone anymore.

She was glad that she had been accepted here, as she feared that, because she was from Wutai, they would shun or report her, but so far they hadn't. Besides, it's not like she had a choice in the matter –who knows who her parents were! They may have been from Midgar for all she knew.

But she was happy to be here, so far everything had been very peaceful – but not for long. Three tall men in dark suits came down the alleyway where she was sitting and she looked up in surprise. They were Turks, no doubt. They were conversing quietly but as one of them with vivid red hair spotted her, he nudged the other two and nodded at her.

''That her?'' She heard him ask.

The brown hired girl looked at them apprehensively as they approached her. In response to the question, the one with dark hair tied back in a ponytail nodded. If she wanted to run the only way was past the men so she reluctantly stayed put, every nerve in her body ready to react at any given moment.

''Hello there,'' said the slim man with the ponytail, kneeling down in front of the girl, ''what's your name''. She didn't say anything and just looked at them, betraying a hint of fear through her big brown eyes.

''C'mon Tseng,'' said the red head impatiently, ''just grab her and let's go!''

The girl's eyes flickered to him, then back to the man in front of her.

''Reno!'' The third, taller, dark man said warningly.

''Oh c'mon Rude,'' he whined back, ''I wanna get down the pub!''

''That's enough'' Tseng said calmly and the other two fell silent as he turned his attention back to the girl in front of him. ''What's your name?''

''... '' the girl said nothing and the one called Reno threw his hands up in the air frustrated.

Her heart pounded faster. Turks were notorious for being ruthless and dangerous, the last thing she needed was a short temper being thrown into the mix.

''It's okay, we won't hurt you'' Tseng said in the same calm voice, blatantly disregarding the red head's mood.

''S-Sarah,'' she muttered in a barely audible voice. Tseng nodded.

''And how old are you?''

''Err, - fifteen, I think,'' she said and blushed slightly. _'__Fancy not knowing your own age__'_, she remembered someone saying the other day. Tseng just nodded again, his face impassive.

''And am I right in saying that you're from Wutai?'' Sarah's eyes widened in fear and her stomach clenched. Tseng noticed this sudden shift and continued calmly, ''it's okay, I said we aren't going to hurt you.'' The girl nodded.

''You are going to have to come with us,'' he said and Sarah's eyes widened with fear again, ''it is for your own protection. It would seem that Wutai wants to get their hands on you again, and from what we have heard, that is something that we cannot allow.''

Sarah stared at them for a minute thinking this over. If Wutai did want her back she would be better off with Shin-Ra, but could she trust them?

''Listen girl'' said Reno who was becoming ever more impatient, ''either you disagree and we take you in by force, or you agree and we'll do this the nice way, your choice.''

''Reno! '' Rude said again. Sarah simply looked at him. She knew he was serious, so she nodded and stood up carefully, leaving her material on the ground. Tseng stood up too and looked down at her; she was quite small, standing at just over five feet tall.

''I suppose you'll want something in return for keeping me... safe, '' she said quietly, and they exchanged glances.

''I'm sure the president will think of something'' Reno smirked looking her up and down, she grimaced. Rude, getting fed up smacked Reno hard round the back of his head.

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_**Well what do you think so far? R&R tell me what you think or if you have any suggestions.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sarah was escorted by the three men up onto the plate and into Shin-Ra building. The city was packed with people, cadets, soldiers, Turks and business men and women. She felt distinctly out of place, even as she headed toward an elevator in the _huge_ Shinra building reception.

People stared at her as she passed, dressed in her slum clothing which hung loosely around her lithe frame. She had no idea where they were taking her. The four of them stopped and waited for the doors to open, and Sarah glanced back around the hall, annoyed that she was still attracting a lot of attention. She turned back around as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as they sped upwards. If anything she had heard about Shinra and the Turks was true, she was most definitely in trouble. Shinra and Wuati were at war. She was from Wutai and in Shinra HQ. Yup, definitely trouble.

She turned to Tseng and tried not to let her voice shake as she asked, ''Where are we going?''

Secretly she was imagining a dark room and an old-style executioner's block with a huge axe awaiting them, and a group of evil, smirking tyrants waiting to lob her head off. But hopefull they would listen to what she had to say first.

''President's office,'' he said calmly.

''Okay, '' she said nodding slightly. Not as bad as she thought… maybe.

They remained silent for the rest of the long lift ride to the President's office. Upon reaching right floor, Tseng took hold of Sarah's arm in a firm grip and guided her out of the lift. They passed by the secretary who had clearly been waiting for them, as she gave a slight smile and nod to show it was alright to proceed. Tseng steered her up the stairs and into the office. Reno and Rude didn't come up with them.

Sarah looked around the room apprehensively. President Shin-Ra was sitting behind his desk, eyeing the newcomers; an extremely fat man was standing in front of the desk off to the side, and a scary looking old man in a white lab coat was standing opposite him. She shivered slightly as an image of Wutian labs flashed before her. Is this why they brought her here, so Shinra could use her as a lab- rat?

Tseng led Sarah further forward so she was effectively standing in the middle of the room. She felt extremely vulnerable as they all stared at her in silence for what felt like a millennium. The silence was broken, however, by the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs and someone entering. Sarah glanced over her shoulder to see who it was.

An unexpected flare of anger welled up in her at the sight of him, but as with many other things, she didn't know why, and she stamped down on the desire to garrotte him.

She gave him a swift look up and down, vaguely wondering amidst her raging emotions how anybody on Gaia could be so god damned tall, muscled and almost elegant at the same time. The man was well over 6 feet tall, had very long silver hair that flowed as he walked, bright green mako-enhanced eyes and smooth pale skin. He wore a black leather outfit which showed part of his chest, with straps running over it.

Sarah turned away quickly, feeling even more threatened by this giant's presence, and feeling even smaller than ever by comparison. She supposed the top of her head wouldn't even reach his shoulder if they stood side by side.

''Excellent General, you're just in time,'' president Shinra said but there was no reply.

_General? _Sarah thought, _why does that ring a bell?_

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the General lean against the wall and folds his arms silently. ''Very well, Tseng, care to brief us.''

Tseng nodded and began calmly, ''Her name is Sarah and she is 15 years old. We found her in the slums in an alleyway. She is the escapee from Wutai.''

Silence filled the room as they all contemplated her; evidently she was not what they were expecting. The President opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the man in the lab coat beginning to laugh.

''Yes professor Hojo,'' the President enquired.

''This is ridiculous!'' the mad scientist cackled, ''Wutai are threatened by SOLDIER, and they try and make their own version out of a girl!''

At this all the people in the room apart from Sarah, Tseng (who had remained stoic throughout), and the General, laughed loudly. Sarah felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment and rage. So that's what Wutai had wanted to do with her; make competition for SOLDIER! So that was the reason for all the weapons training and actually getting an education. And here, now, they just laughed at her. Why; because she was a girl.

''This, '' the President said, the essence of mirth still evident in his eyes, ''this is Wutai's secret weapon, the one they would use to bring an end to Shinra? They expected a little girl to succeed where countless others had failed? '' By now even the General had a small smile playing on his lips as Shinra continued, ''They thought that she could defeat the almighty General Sephiroth?''

By now Hojo had tears of laughter in his eyes; his already grotesque face disfigured even more as he laughed. Sarah's eyes on the other hand were filled with tears of anger, and a little shame, though she couldn't see why.

''I have been experimented on all my life, '' she said quietly, each syllable shaking with anger. They stopped laughing so hard to listen to her, ''and you just stand there and laugh?''

''Enough of your nonsense,'' the President said and turned to Tseng, ''take her away and have her disposed of. Even though she isn't a threat I still don't want her back in the hands of Wutai.''

Tseng nodded silently and motioned for Sarah to turn round but she stood still and stared at the President. The Turk took her arm and made to drag her along but she spoke in a deathly calm voice, hiding her fear behind anger, though the fear remained.

''I came here willingly,'' she began, talking very deliberately so they didn't miss a single word, ''under the impression that you would keep me away from Wutai, safe, and alive, and in return you would want information on the goings on inside of their military. ''

''What information could a lab-rat possibly give Shinra that would be of any use to us what so ever?'' The fat man in front of Shinra's desk sneered.

''Depends,'' she said silkily, trying to ignore the real anger that had surged through her, ''would you be willing to keep me alive and safe from Wutai?''

Sarah could see the muscles in Shinra's face working hard as he tried to regain his composure.

''Very well,'' he said, obviously humouring her, ''depending on what you tell us we will think about it.''

Sarah considered the situation carefully; she knew that unless she proved that she could provide long term use to Shinra, they would take the information she gave them and kill her anyway. She sighed and asked, ''What do you want to know?''

The president looked at her thoughtfully, no longer laughing, ''How much do you know?''

''A lot,'' she said. She knew she sounded evasive here, so she decided to sweeten the deal a bit more, ''and anything I don't know I should probably be able to get you.''

The only reply here was a few sets of raised eyebrows. Tseng's hand still lay on her arm, and out of the corner of her eye she could just make out the General surveying her thoughtfully.

''How?'' Shinra asked her, now taking her seriously; evidently she had said the right thing. She out the breath she didn't know she was holding in and replied,

''I'm good at hacking into things, so I could try and access databases from here, and I also know where a lot, I think most of them, of underground bases are, where Wutai scientists are creating prototypes of their own elite fighting group; SHARK. I know that they've made at least one successfully, and from what I've heard he's pretty damn strong.''

Her speech was received with silence, and then the General spoke,

''If this is true and Wutai do have their own elite fighting group other than the Crescent, then I suggest we look into this further, to make sure whether or not they pose a threat. ''

The President remained silent and looked between Sephiroth and Sarah. She sort of remembered who the Crescent were. They were an elite fighting group in Wutai, and much more able than other warriors at taking down SOLDIER operatives. Never haveing met any of them she didn;t know much else, but aparantly they seemed to have turned a few head even here, in Midgar. Finally the President spoke,

''Very well, Hojo, I want you to run some tests on this girl here, just to see whether or not she has any enhancements, though she doesn't bare the tell-tale signs of Mako. General, I then want you to get someone to assess her fighting ability and I want her placed in either the Turks or Soldier. But,'' he said, now turning his attention onto Sarah, ''I want you to prove that you are telling the truth. ''

Sarah raised her eyebrows at him, then nodded slightly,

''Come here, '' he said, as he stood up and pointed to the chair he previously occupied. The others in the room looked curious as Sarah slid out of Tseng's slack grip and made her way round the desk. The President motioned for her to sit in the chair, so she could gain access to the computer.

''I want you to hack into a Wutai database and recover at least one file,'' he said.

Sarah nodded and began typing into a search engine on the internet. Shinra and the fat man, who had also came round the desk exchanged sceptical glances as she brought up a blank web page which had a bar across the middle for typing in.

''This is a website I created myself,'' she explained as she typed in a series of numbers, ''it lets me access trapdoors I managed to build into the programming of one database. It's not fantastically sophisticated, but it does the job''

Suddenly a message and a box appeared on the screen saying ''access denied, need password''.

For the next few minutes the room remained silent as she typed away and brought up a file containing plans to attack a mako-reactor in Niebelheim in three days' time, and various other plans for destroying mako-reactors.

''Well, well, well, '' the President said amusedly, ''who would have guessed. You were telling the truth. Okay, Hojo, run the tests, General, make arrangements. It seems things are going to get a bit more active around here.''

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_**Well, any good? R&R. Feel free to make any suggestions and I'd really like some constructive criticism here!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_**Okay hi again! at the moment i really don't know where i am going with this story so reviews would be really helpful :) hope you enjoy!**_

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The next few days found Sarah being constantly prodded with needles and having blood drawn, having intelligence tests and waiting around a lot for her results. She had told a rather unsympathetic Hojo that she didn't know what tests had been performed on her whilst in Wutai, and couldn't remember showing any outstanding abilities, though that might have something to do with the fact that large chunks of her life seemed to be missing from her memory.

After two days solid of being tested she finally got her results. It turned out that she did have some sort of enhancement but it was impossible to tell what it was, and, as Hojo so kindly pointed out, she was probably too weak to use them anyway. Although she was able to laugh at him when her IQ test came back and was better than his.

After that it was the time for the next stage of 'testing'. Sarah was desperately hoping that the combat evaluations wouldn't be anywhere near as bad as being with Hojo for two days, but she still wasn't looking forward to it. She remembered training in Wutai; she had been more than proficient with a gun and had shown great promise with hand to hand combat, but when it came to handling a sword she failed miserably.

It was with trepidation that Sarah headed to a training room to meet up with whoever was supposed to be there. She entered to find only two people there; Tseng and a girl, who was also in Turk uniform, both in conversations until they spotted her. Tseng beckoned Sarah over to them and made introductions.

''Sarah this is Cissnei, Cissnei this is Sarah. Cissnei will be helping with your evaluation and training.''

Sarah smiled shyly at the Turk but said nothing. She was already feeling uncomfortable. After arriving in Midgar, she had had days to get used to her surroundings, but know she was being tossed around from place to place every few hours. It sounded stupid to people who had led a free life, but she hadn't never thought the world was much bigger than her base in which she had been raised and trained.

''Right let's begin shall we?'' Tseng said, ''we're going to start with basic hand to hand combat, alright?''

The two girls nodded, Sarah was looking rather apprehensive, as she didn't know how strong Cissnei was – she had to be good to get into the Turks. Their cover to the public may have seemed docile enough, but when it came to it, Sarah knew that each and every one of them was a highly trained assassin. This knowledge didn't make her feel so safe at the moment.

''Don't be afraid to hurt me'' Cissnei said encouragingly, ''I can take it''

''Likewise,'' Sarah said smiling slightly, ''I've had a little combat training before.''

An hour later however Sarah was regretting ever opening her mouth; she was covered in several bruises from head to foot and was out of breath. She blocked a few more punches from the Turk then lashed out with a kick to the stomach, sending Cissnei to the ground. Tseng stepped forward just as Cissnei got up and Sarah sank to her knees out of pure exhaustion.

''I think that is enough,'' he said in his ever calm voice. Sarah jumped slightly, forgetting that he was in the room. ''Are you both alright?''

Sarah nodded and Cissnei said, ''Yes sir.''

Tseng walked over to Sarah and put his hand on her shoulder, ''Are you sure you are alright?''

Sarah jumped slightly at the contact and she felt a funny lurch in the pit of her stomach as she looked up at him. The sight of his smooth brown eyes staring down at her seemed to make this queasy feeling worse so she looked away from him.

''E-err, - y-yeah, I'm fine, '' she said getting to her feet. She could feel the heat rising in her face slightly as he looked down at her still. _'What was that feeling?_' she thought to herself, _'Am I ill?'_

Tseng looked at her a second longer then shook his head slightly and Cissnei concealed a small knowing smile.

''We'll try you out using a gun next,'' Tseng said in his usual calm manner, ''that is if you're feeling up to it of course.''

''Wha-'' said Sarah, pulling herself out of her thoughts, ''oh, yeah, I am, I'm fine.''

He just nodded, turned around and led them to a shooting range. There were already two people there; the red haired Turk, Reno, and a blond boy of about 17. Sarah stared at the blond for a few seconds; he was shooting a shotgun using only one arm!

Reno looked round as they approached them.

''Hey boss,'' he said casually shooting the target he was practicing on.

''Reno,'' he said in acknowledgement, and then he nodded to the blond, ''good afternoon sir.''

He turned to the Turk, ''Hello Tseng,'' then he spotted Sarah, ''New recruit?'' he asked, shouldering his shotgun and running his eyes up and down her. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze.

''Yes sir,'' he said, ''this is Sarah, Sarah this is Rufus Shinra, the President's son. Sarah is the escapee from Wutai.''

At this Reno turned round and whistled, ''Never thought a cutie like you would be a weapon,'' he said walking over and standing right in front of her looking down into her eyes, with a cocky grin, ''Nah, definitely way too cute.''

''Reno!'' Tseng said warningly to the red head who stepped away quickly. Sarah was confused. Weapon? These Shinra people did say some funny things at times.

''C'mon,'' said Cissnei tugging on her arm, ''let's get you a gun.''

Sarah allowed herself to be dragged away from a scared looking Reno towards a display of weapons. There were about thirty guns in the cabinet, all of different sizes. They ranged from small low calibre handguns to the shotgun that Rufus Shinra had been using.

''Sorry about that,'' said Cissnei, opening up the glass doors of the gun cabinet. Sarah raised her eyebrows questioningly and the female Turk continued, ''About Reno; he'll hit on anything with a pair of legs.''

'Err – 'hit on'?' Sarah asked unsurely, not knowing what that meant.

''Yeah, you know like coming onto someone,'' Sarah still looked confused, ''making sexual advances. Here try this,'' she said handing a medium sized handgun over to her.

''Oh, yeah this is fine. So you mean he has a romantic interest in me?''

''Well... this is Reno we're talking about here – I'm not sure he has a romantic side.''

''Huh?''

Cissnei sighed, ''He just likes having sex with... any woman he meets who is good looking''

''Oh right,'' Sarah said slowly, ''so he's a womanizer of sorts?''

''Yeah, you could say that. But don't worry,'' she said glancing over her shoulder at the men behind her, ''by the looks of it Reno wont dare to try anything after Tseng is finished with him.''

Sarah did the same and glanced behind her. She couldn't see Tseng's face but judging by the scared look on Reno's, he was pretty angry. Rufus however was just standing there looking amused.

Sarah scratched the back of her head awkwardly. It appeared that she had got the red-head into trouble somehow, but didn't know quite how she had managed it. For some reason though, she didn't feel bad about it; she hated the way he looked at her. Cissnei took note of her expression and tried to explain to her what was going on.

''Tseng started getting really annoyed with Reno hitting on girls when he lost the guy he was following,'' She said with a wry smile, ''because he saw a cute girl.''

Sarah smiled slightly but then looked thoughtful for a second. Cissnei closed the gun cabinet and handed Sarah and handed her ammunition for the gun.

''What is it?'' Cissnei asked when she noticed her frowning. Sarah thought about how to answer. Already she was becoming overwhelmed about how much there was to learn about the people and their ways.

''There's just so much that I don't know,'' she said quietly, cursing the fact that she must sound so stupid, ''You don't learn about these things in a lab.''

''Don't worry; you'll get used to it.''

Sarah nodded and the both turned round when they heard Tseng approach.

''Ready?'' he asked. If he had been angry a minute ago, it was impossible to tell; his face was as impassive as ever. The girls nodded and followed him to a target range.

''Have you used a gun before?'' he asked and Sarah answered to the affirmative, ''right then, let's see what you can do.''

She stepped forward so she was in line with the target, raised her gun in both hands, aimed and shot once. The bullet had hit the left shoulder of the target. She resumed firing and emptied the clip. The rest of the bullets had landed in the head or heart of the target; all minus the first of the round were successful kill shots.

''Excellent,'' Tseng said and Sarah swelled with pride at his compliment, ''now try with one hand'' he handed her another clip and she reloaded.

A round later and it was emptied – again all successful kill-shots.

Again they spent an hour practicing with guns before it was time for more combat training, but this time with a sword. She had been dreading this the most and wasn't above begging the Turks to let her stay in the shooting range where she felt most comfortable.

''Why do they want me trained in combat anyways?'' she whined as they went back to the training room.

''The president wants to make you useful,'' Tseng explained, ''and he won't miss out on the chance of having another great fighter, regardless of gender.''

Sarah just sighed in defeat and Cissnei laughed.

They arrived back in the training room and Tseng went off to fetch some swords and Cissnei told her what they would be doing. He had just come back when Cissnei's phone rang and she was called off somewhere else. That just left Sarah and Tseng to train. She felt a lurch in her stomach again when she realised this but tried to ignore it.

Another hour went and Sarah was glad to realise that she wasn't so terrible with a sword after all. She wasn't the best either and would need a lot of training, but it was better than she had expected.

She made her way to the quarters she had been allocated and Tseng went off to give the President her results. He told her they would probably reach a decision by tomorrow so she should rest up until then.

Sarah had been given a room in the Turks section of living quarters because they were the only place with facilities for females so she would have to keep this even if she made it into soldier.

_'I wonder where they'll put me'_ she thought to herself as she lay down on her surprisingly comfy bed, _'I don't know where I want to go; I'd be stronger if I made it into Soldier, and I'd be more likely to be able to get revenge on Wutai for what they did, what they're doing. On the other hand Turks would be easier, and I wouldn't be the only girl. I don't know anyone from Soldier, and they don't believe in me; I remember the Generals reaction when he found out I was the one who escaped; he laughed. And I trust the Turks; they look out for me. Just today I've been shown more affection than I've had my entire life and they are still practically strangers to me. Tseng was actually concerned for me. What was that feeling though?'_ Her train of thought carried her off into a deep sleep.

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_**Well what do you think? don't forget to review and give feedback! :) (I'll love you forever if you review) ;)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**_Heya again, and thank you to all my lovely reviwers. This chapter has been re-written so I hope you enjoy the new take on it._**

**Chapter 4**

The next morning, Sarah was woken from a series of confusing dreams, which seemed to include a door knob which was trying to eat her, and an essay which she had to write backwards, by a knock on the door to her room. She quickly sat up, and rubbed her eyes, realising that she had slept on top of the covers out of habit; she'd never really had any before Shinra.

''Just a second,'' Sarah called to whoever was on the other side of the door, as she stood up and quickly stretched. She quickly stepped over to the door and opened it, revealing Cissnei who was holding a bunch of clothes.

''Morning,'' she said brightly as she entered, and chucked the clothes onto her bed, ''here's your new uniform. You made it into the SOLDIER cadets. Your time table is in one of your pockets.''

Sarah looked at her blearily, and pushed some brown locks of hair away from her eyes, almost hoping that it would kick start her brain. ''I did?'' She asked dazedly, not really registering what this meant.

''Yeah,'' Cissnei replied, kindly not laughing at the exhausted state she was in, ''you had better hurry up and get dressed; I have to take you to your first class and it starts in fifteen minutes.''

''Oh, right,'' Sarah said as her thought process finally geared up. She quickly grabbed the uniform (mainly a slightly baggy faded blue set of items) and sped into her bathroom to splash her face with cold water and then get changed.

''So err, where am I going first?'' Sarah asked as she came out of the bathroom and followed Cissnei out of her quarters.

''Fitness training,'' relpied the Turk as they walked briskly, ''it's basically just running, sit-ups, press-ups, you know, the usual,''

''Uh-huh,'' Sarah said to show she was listening. This class didn't sound too bad; she was already very fit from years of training at the hands of Wutai. Her body was well toned, although you couldn't really tell she had any muscle at all underneath what she was wearing – the uniform was too large and made her look even shorter (if it was possible) and slightly fat.

''Yeah,'' the auburn haired girl continued, ''but unfortunately we don't have any new recruits coming for a couple of months, so you'll be with a class who's been here quite a while, and they'll be a lot further ahead than you.''

''How much further ahead,'' Sarah asked worriedly, wondering if she had been mistaken in thinking that her previous training would have been sufficient.

Her memories were still in bits and pieces, but she had a very strong recollection of being worked to the bone, and hating every minute of it. There had literally been blood, sweat and tears; the sweat obviously from the exercise, the blood from the injuries she got given if she didn't try hard enough, and the tears from absolute exhaustion.

''You'll have a lot of catching up to do,'' Cissnei told her seriously, ''and Geo doesn't tolerate any nonsense. I know you've had training before, but he isn't exactly the _fairest_ instructor we have, so you're going to have to work your butt off.''

''Who's Geo?''

''Giovanni Keller, your instructor; like I said, he's really strict, so be careful okay,''

''Right,'' Sarah said, feeling quite apprehensive as they got into an elevator and fell silent. Having been raised in a very remote place, Sarah didn't really like elevators. The ones she had gone in upon first arrival at Shinra had been circular and made of glass, but these were cold, square and metal, without a single window – she hated it. It felt like a cell.

Thankfully, Sarah hadn't been around long enough to know that elevators sometimes broke down and people could get stuck inside. If she had, she would have been more relieved than she already was about stepping out of it. The two girls carried on walking in silence, Sarah beginning to feel more and more apprehensive about the day ahead of her.

''Just a word of advice,'' Cissnei said suddenly, stopping Sarah in her tracks just short of the entrance to the training room, ''you're going to be the youngest there by a bit, and you'll be the only girl. There's probably going to be some guys who aren't going to like this.''

Sarah frowned at the Turk, clearly confused. Why would guys be upset at a girl training with them; it didn't make sense. They were, after all, all human, and therefore the same, in Sarah's eyes at any rate.

''Look,'' she sighed awkwardly, ''you're the first girl ever who's actually made it into the cadets, and a _lot_ have tried. I think they'll feel a bit threatened that a girl could be just as strong as them; you know how boys are – egotistical maniacs,'' she said this last part with a small laugh and Sarah knew she was just trying to make her feel better, but it didn't really work. Why hadn't anyone told her about this before?

''Just be careful,'' The red haired Turk pressed on, ''I don't suppose Geo is going to go easy on you because you're behind; knowing him he'd make you work ten times as hard even if you weren't a girl; and because you are he'll push you even further to try and break you.''

''But you're a girl,'' Sarah said, ignoring the sympathetic smile and shake of the head, ''was it the same for you?''

''It's different in the Turks,'' she tried to explain, ''we aren't all about brute strength; SOLDIER kind of is.''

Sarah stared at Cissnei in amazement and stopped herself form voicing her thoughts; why did they put her in SOLDIER if they knew it would be like this? She wasn't incredibly strong physically. But she thought she already knew the answer – it was a test, to see how strong and determined she really was.

Finally she nodded and entered her class, pausing tentatively once inside as she secretly marvelled at what she was seeing; it appeared they were using a company simulator as an outdoor field. There were around 30 cadets, all assembled in two lines, one with and odd number of people in it.

''Okay gentlemen, attention,'' a tall Italianesque man called out to the two rows of cadets lined up, ''we're going to start with two laps round the field. Off you go,'' the men left at a jog.

The man Sarah assumed as Geo watched them for a few seconds and then turned around and spotted her. He had tanned skin and a sharp nose, and brown eyes which were so dark; they could have been mistaken for black. When his eyes found her, Sarah tensed ever so slightly, remembering Cissnei's warnings.

''You lost kiddo?'' he smirked as he sauntered over and looked down at her, looking almost impressive, standing at nearly a foot taller than her.

Sarah refrained from frowning at being called a child and stood to attention.

''Sorry sir, I am supposed to be in this class sir. I am the new recruit,'' She said stiffly, praying to God she wouldn't blush at how weak her voice sounded compared to his booming, confident one.

He looked at her for a second with a funny look on his face as if he was fighting the desire to laugh, and his eyes flickered between her own as he decided whether or not she was kidding around.. Sarah had to fight the desire to punch him; it was what she had been known to do quite a lot back in Wutai.

''Your late cadet,'' he said finally, drawing himself up to full height, ''what's your name?''

''Sarah, sir,'' she said simply. Refusing to allow herself to be daunted she looked straight into his eyes without blinking.

''Your _last_ name,'' he said with a slight sneer. He obviously thought she was a joke.

''I don't have one, sir,'' she said stiffly, barely moving her lips as a familiar wave of embarrassment crept up on her. Yet again he looked as if he was about to laugh.

''Fine,'' he said briskly, ''do your two laps, and I want you finished by the time the rest are, off you go.''

Sarah glanced at the rest of the cadets who were already half way round the first lap but thought it best not to argue and set off.

''Just keep your head down and do as you are told,'' she thought to herself as she ran steadily to catch up with the boys. She joined onto the end of the group just as they came to finish the first lap. Sarah had a funny feeling that if she stayed in this position till the end, she would get more jeering looks from the instructor than she already was, so she quickened her pace, not to please him, but to show him she wasn't weak because of being a girl.

Sarah kept her breath steady as her feet pounded on the hard grassy surface, having to put up quite a pace to get near the front of the group. By the time they finished the second lap Sarah had settled comfortably behind the two running at the head of the pack, not wanting to draw too much attention to herself by sprinting like a madman on the run to come in first.

Yet, because she had done quite well, the look on Keller's face promised trouble.

The rest of the class didn't go so well as the laps. Keller barked orders at them and they quickly dropped to the ground to do fifty press-ups. Sarah was doing them really well, mainly due to her low body weight, and was mentally counting them as she went, ''fifteen… sixteen… seventeen…''

But by the time she had reached twenty-two, Keller had noticed she was doing better than a few others I the class, and came over and put his foot on her back, telling her to carry on and that she'd be in trouble if she finished last.

With the added resistance her shaking arms could barely hold her up. She managed to complete them but just a few seconds after the last boy had, so he told her to run 10 laps of the field, barefoot. This, she found ridiculous and opened her mouth to complain but only succeeded in raising the number to 15 and decided to shut up.

Reluctantly, she kicked of her heavy combat boots and began to run.

On top of all this, she seemed to have found someone who she despised more than the whole of Wutai put together; Daniel Zelner.

After finishing her fifteen bare-foot laps and jamming her shoes back on her feet, most of the class had already completed a simple obstacle course and there was only the two of them who needed to do it.

At soon as they had climbed a wall and were out of the view of the rest of the class Zelner tripped her up and purposely felt up her breasts, even though he claimed it was an accident. As he pretended to help her get up, he tripped her up again and this time felt up her arse, and then he made her fall onto her back and purposely fell on top of her and crashed his lips upon hers and tried to snog her, saying it was another accident.

To top it all off, when Instructor Keller asked why they had taken so long he had the nerve to say it was her fault because she had tried to attack him. This landed Sarah with cleaning duty for a week and he didn't give her a chance to defend herself. All in all, it had been a lousy lesson.

As soon as the class was over she stormed out ahead of everyone else and tried to ignore Zelner calling after her with two friends of his behind him laughing.

Angry tears threatened to spill from her eyes and she didn't even know where she was going and she didn't want to stop and ask. In fact she didn't stop until she walked into someone – a very tall, extremely scary, silver haired someone to be precise.

''Watch where you are going cadet,'' he said sounding annoyed.

''S-s-sorry!'' she squeaked as he swept by her not giving her a second glance. The two people who followed him however looked at her as they passed, rather intrigued.

One of them was tall, very well built and had black hair, and the second was just as tall, had red hair, a red coat and bright piercing mako-blue eyes, which bored into hers as he gave her a very feral grin then strode off.

She stood there, slightly shaken, and heard them talk as they went after the General.

''I swear they're getting more feminine every day,'' the Red head said, a slight side of laughter to his voice.

''That was a girl, Genesis,'' the other answered, sounding a little wearied by him.

''Since when was there a girl in SOLDIER cadets? Ah well, I'm not one to complain,''

The dark-haired one sighed exasperatedly, and she didn't catch the next comment but the red head laughed loudly.

Sarah stood there a moment, still a little freaked out before she remembered that she still had other classes to attend, although where on Gaia they were, she didn't know.

She looked around and spotted one of the boys from her class who had not made fun of her, leaving the training room. He had been one of the very few people who thought Keller had been unfair to her, but of course none of these people had had the nerve to say anything about it.

Quickly wiping her eyes free of any trace of tears, Sarah took a deep breath and made to follow the boy. He looked to be about her age, was about 5'6, and you definitely couldn't miss him anywhere. He had bright, blond hair, almost yellow, which stuck up artfully at weird angles, and large baby blue eyes. Best of all, he was by himself and didn't look like the type of guy to try and bully her, which was lucky really; she didn't want to be tempted to ruin his surprisingly cute face.

''Uh, hey,'' she called to him and he turned to look at her in surprise as she jogged towards the blond, ''you wouldn't happen to know where-'' Sarah quickly grabbed a piece of paper out of her pocket consulted her timetable, '' - 'Materia 4' is, would you?''

''I-I'm going there now,'' the blond stammered slightly, his cheeks suddenly flaming red. Sarah was no social expert, but she could tell that this boy wasn't used to people running up and talking to him. Perhaps it was what Cissnei was talking about earlier – the fact that she was the only girl in the cadets. Did the guy feel indecent by talking to her?

''Okay,'' Sarah said cautiously, not wanting to push the boy to have a conversation if he was unwilling to have it, but at the same time really needing information from him, ''do you mind if I walk there with you? I have only started training today and don't know my way around yet,''

''Y-yeah,'' the blond said, again stammering on his words, ''Of course. By all means.''

Perhaps the boy had some sort of speech impediment? Sarah had read about them once, a long time ago. Suddenly the boy made a funny sound in the back of his throat, and Sarah felt slightly alarmed, thinking that he was about to be ill. However, her panic was unnecessary when she realised he was just trying to talk.

''Gyuhayyy- I'm Cloud, by the way,'' he said, his face turning an even deeper shade of red as he held out his hand to her, ''Cloud Strife.''

''Uhh-uh-wha…?'' Sarah just looked blankly at him as she stammered as much as he had been. Why was he holding his hand out to her and what did it mean? It didn't seem like an act of violence… was she meant to hold it? The boy noticed the blank expression on her face and laughed a little, which made Sarah a little annoyed.

''You sh-shake it,'' he stammered and Sarah felt bewildered. It seemed like a very strange thing to do, but then the people here were strange too. With a slight crease between her eyebrows she gingerly reached forward, took his hand in her own. Thankfully he took the initiative and shook it and Sarah was just left looking downright confused and quite scared. The blond boy noticed.

Cloud burst out laughing, a full drawn belly laugh, and drew his hand away to cover his mouth, while his other clutched his stomach. Sarah was really annoyed now, as the blond bent double resting his hands on his knees as he fought for breath.

''Are you mocking me?'' she snapped over the sound of his incessant laughter, and he quickly stood up straight, laughter still evident on his face and in his voice, but it was with a slightly apologetic look that he replied.

''No, no,'' he said quickly, gesturing with his hands and head shaking from side to side, ''It's just I've never met anyone who-'' he cut off quickly upon seeing the look on her face and blushed some more, ''-look, I didn't mean anything by it.''

Sarah just nodded at him slowly, feeling stupider and more out of place as the seconds went by.

''Sorry,'' he said, and she could tell he meant it even though his voice was still bubbly, ''I thought you were joking. That's people do when they meet each other.''

Sarah frowned at this. She had met many new people in the past few days, but none of them had offered her their hand to shake. Perhaps it was only in special circumstances. She would do best to just not bother unless another person offered her their hand to shake; it would save less of this kind of embarrassment.

''It's a very strange custom,'' Sarah admitted, looking at her hand in interest.

''Well, what do _you_ usually do when you meet people then?'' he asked, his stammer finally fading away as the conversation became easier. She was glad; she had met only one person in her life with a speech impediment, and they had been on good terms, as far as she could remember, but he had been killed, simply for getting too close to her.

''Umm,'' Sarah thought hard about this for a moment, her brown eyes staring at the wall just behind Cloud Strife. She hadn't done anything in the past couple of days which could count as a typical greeting, so she thought back to her time in Wutai. New people would sometimes come to be her training partner, and the first thing she would do when put in a room with them was- ''punch them.''

''W-what!'' Cloud gasped incredulously, actually taking a step back while looking a little worried that he was about to receive this 'custom'. However Sarah just shook her head.

''I've never really met many people in this manner before,'' she admitted, for some reason feeling it was okay to share this information with the boy, ''the people who I 'greeted' like that had come only to fight me.''

''Oh,'' he said as if finally understanding something, his eyes slightly wide, ''uh, where are you from?''

Sarah considered this for a moment. She had already told this Cloud Strife more than she had intended to, seeing as she hadn't intended on telling him anything, but it was actually quite nice to have what could be dubbed 'a relatively normal conversation' for once.

''Wutai,'' she said, and wasn't surprised to the expression on his face darken ever so slightly. Shinra and Wutai were, after all, at war, ''I ran away, and came to Midgar, where some people from Shinra found me and-'' she quickly stopped herself; telling a stranger about herself was _not_ a good idea, no matter how sweet he seemed. If, over time, he proved himself to be trustworthy, maybe she would tell him more. ''I'm sorry, it's a long story and I don't feel comfortable discussing it, not yet.''

''No, that's alright, you don't have to apologise, I didn't mean to pry,'' he said quickly, but she could tell he was curious, if not a little suspicious of her, not that anyone could blame him; she would most definitely be suspicious of her.

Cloud turned away and began to walk down the hallway, motioning for her to come with him, but then he suddenly turned to her, a blush creeping up his face again.

''That's right,'' he said as if remembering something, and Sarah immediately tensed, thinking it had something to do with her, which it did, ''I didn't get your name.''

''Oh,'' Sarah said, trying to not let her relief show in her voice, 'I'm Sarah. Just Sarah, no surname.''

For half a second she expected him to laugh once more but he didn't. Instead he blushed even more and a slightly dreamy look came over his face as he said, ''Just like General Sephiroth then…''

Sarah frowned as she studied him, trying to piece together his expression and almost loving tone in his voice.

''Oh,'' it was Sarah's turn to sound as if she had just figured something out, which she actually thought she had, ''are the two of you in love?''

''What!' Could yelped turning the deepest shade of red yet, causing Sarah to look horrified, ''n-no! H-he's the greatest warrior alive! Apparently…''

Sarah listened, bemused, as Cloud rattled off facts and rumours alike about his greatest hero all the way to their next class, which was an unfortunately long way, and couldn't help but think that Cloud must, in some way, love this Sephiroth man. Yet no matter how many supposedly great things Cloud told her about him, Sarah could only feel slightly confused.

For some reason, as if it was a thought burned onto her brain since birth, she couldn't even begin to like him. Not one bit.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Over the next month Sarah trained as hard as she could to be the best she could be.

'Hey Cloud wait up!' she called to the spiky haired blond she befriended on her first day.

'Hi,' he said brightly as she caught up.

'How was the mission?'

'It was good...'

'And?'

'Scary!' he admitted

'What happened?'

'We got attacked by fiends,'

'Did you get hurt?' she asked concernedly

'Nah, Angeal made quick work of them,'

'Who?'

'That tall fellow who you see with Genesis,'

'Genesis? Wait you mean that guy with the red coat?'

'Yeah,'

Sarah suppressed a shudder.

She vividly remembered the first time she had encountered him. It had been a month since then and he had given her that same piercing look and feral grin every time he had passed her. It was annoying, not to mention disturbing.

This happened again yesterday and she was just about to ask why he was looking at her when his friend had dragged him away.

'I suppose that was Angeal,' she thought.

'I didn't think that transporting goods would be that dangerous,' she mused out loud.

'He said it was because it was a dangerous area'

'Oh right...'

'I hope they don't ask me to go again when they redo the mission,' he said suddenly worried

'The mission failed?'

'Yeah, the goods were damaged, couldn't deliver them.'

'I'm sorry,'

'It was okay. They didn't blame me for freezing up.'

'Huh? What do you mean you froze up?'

'When the fiends came for me I – oh god, I was so scared – I couldn't move! They don't teach you what that's like here. I mean, when we're training we know it's just a simulation. But when you're out there...,' he trailed off then shook his head, 'Sorry, I must sound really stupid.'

'I don't think so,' she said quietly, thinking back to her Wutai training, 'it's bound to be scary the first time.'

They walked in silence for a few moments before Sarah spoke again.

'I wonder if they'll put me on a mission.'

It was nearing the end of the training year for the class that Sarah was in and they had the opportunity to join Soldier.

This meant that they would be taking two tests, a theory and a practical. Also they would be sent on a mission and this would help decide, based on their performance, whether or not they made it into Soldier.

'I dunno. Hey,' he said brightly, 'maybe they'll make you redo my mission!'

'But I don't wanna die,' she whined desperately

Cloud burst out laughing.

'Hey come on I'm being serious here!' she said punching him playfully in the arm.

'Sorry,' he laughed, 'you just looked so cute and pathetic with your little puppy dog face.'

'Oh yeah, cos' that's what I wanna be; a cute and pathetic puppy,'

'Okay, sorry,' he said fighting to keep a straight face, 'your right. You're more like a kitten anyways.'

'Cloud!'

'Sorry, you know I love you really,'

'I think I prefer the old you,' she muttered mainly to herself.

When they had first met Cloud had been very shy towards her and all their conversations on his part were filled with nervous laughs and stutters.

Cloud clapped her on the shoulder.

'Come on, we don't want to be late for our next class,'

Sarah groaned as she remembered what day it was – dooms day.

LaCrusso, their instructor for sword training, had announced that they were going to get inspected. Normally this meant that a member of Soldier would come and watch them, but for some reason General Sephiroth would be doing it this time.

When they heard this, a murmur of excitement ran through the class; it was common knowledge that the General never did anything like this, so they were all intrigued as to why he was doing it now.

Sarah however, thought she had a good idea which was confirmed once she reached the class.

Her and Cloud entered and were about to go and get prepared when LaCrusso pulled her aside.

'Sarah, I want you on your best behaviour today,' he said as he looked down at her, 'the General is coming to watch you in particular, so don't give him any reason to say you shouldn't be in Soldier when we both know you're good enough, okay.'

Sarah stared at him with a slight frown, but nodded without comment and went off to join Cloud. LaCrusso had never been one of the ones who hated her because she was a girl, but he had never admitted that she was any good either. Cloud gave her a questioning look as she walked over but she didn't get a chance to explain as the general arrived.

They stood to attention as he entered and watched as he LaCrusso exchanged a few words before the General stood back to watch.

'Okay everybody,' LaCrusso called to the class 'divide into pairs and we'll start with attacking and defending. Keep going until the person attacking has their sword at a point which would kill then swap once everyone is finished. Off you go.'

Sarah turned and was about to partner with Cloud when a hand grabbed her arm and roughly dragged her away.

'Let go of me Zelner!' she hissed angrily at the person who had grabbed her.

'No thanks,' he said silkily, 'I want to have my fun,'

She should have guessed this was going to happen. He was going to humiliate her in front of the General so she wouldn't stand a chance of getting into Soldier. It was a dirty trick.

Her blood boiled with anger as they turned to face each other and prepared to fight.

They heard the command to start and Zelner began to attack her viciously. She only just managed to raise her sword in time to block the heavy blows, but then something happened. Something about her changed; she felt stronger, her sword felt lighter, and her mind felt much clearer.

They carried on fighting for a while and as the seconds trickled away Sarah could feel something happening. It was like a faint glow that coursed through her body.

Soon enough it was only the two of them left fighting, but she was no longer struggling – it was getting easier by the second.

Zelner hadn't slowed down his attempt to beat her and his swings weren't any less powerful, but Sarah began to wield her sword with one hand without any trouble – something she wouldn't have dared considering ten minutes ago.

The best part of it all was the look on Zelner's face when he realised that she was no longer struggling against him.

They carried on like this for another minute, Sarah growing more confident as she blocked even his most powerful down strike and sent him stumbling backwards.

'This is great!' she thought to herself as Zelner tried to stab her, 'I haven't felt this since... since escaping from Wutai!'

All too soon however LaCrusso called for them to stop and they did so reluctantly.

She turned her head towards him and received a quick smile and nod of approval from him before he addressed the rest of the class and told them to switch roles.

They started up again, but this time they were one of the first ones finished; in a matter of seconds Sarah had the tip of her blade against Zelner's throat. Fighting the urge to take his head off she lowered her sword and turned to watch the others, trying to ignore Zelner who was fuming.

Her eyes swept the room and saw Cloud doing pretty well against another of their friends. She looked away and her eyes landed on the General this time who had been watching her, but looked away as their eyes met.

She continued to watch him for a few seconds before turning her attention back to Cloud and the others.

'Well, my dear General,' she thought to herself, unable to stop a small triumphant smile from appearing on her lips, 'I wonder what you think of me now.'

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The class ended and they began wearily filing out the door – LaCrusso had really pushed them that lesson.

'Sarah, a moment if you please,' he called over the heads of the cadets. LaCrusso and the General were talking together as he called her over.

'Yes, sir?' she asked anxiously. Was this her about accidently-on-purpose thwacking Zelner in the head with her sword?

'Relax,' he said sensing her tone, 'I just wanted to talk.'

Sarah mentally sighed in relief.

'Fist of all I wanted to say well done; you did really well today,'

Sarah beamed.

'I've never seen you fight like that – what happened?'

She frowned thoughtfully for a moment.

'I don't know it just came over me,' she said.

At this the two men exchanged quick glances but said nothing as to what they were thinking.

'Okay well, don't let it come over you too often,' he said with a small smile tugging at his the corner of his mouth, 'we can't afford many more people walking away with concussions,'

Sarah looked down at her feet feeling slightly embarrassed; she hadn't meant to give him a concussion.

'And secondly... well I'll let the General explain that one,' he said flashing a smile at the silver-haired man next to him, who for some reason, gave him a very murderous look before turning to Sarah.

'I'm recommending you for a mission to Wutai,' he said abruptly, looking down at her as if she was the most insignificant thing in the world, 'We have located one of their underground bases that you gave us co-ordinates to. We will be leaving tonight.'

He walked away without another word, leaving Sarah staring after him, speechless.

What was this all about? She had been here barely a month and they were sending her to Wutai? It was suicide!

LaCrusso clapped her on the shoulder and left the poor shell-shocked girl standing alone in the training room.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

'I'm gay' Cloud said to an extremely pale Sarah, who was sitting with her shoulders slumped once in the mess hall again after classes had finished.

'Okay'

'With Genesis,'

'Uh-huh'

'We want to have a threesome with you,'

'Right'

'And the general wants to play voyeur'

'Great'

'Angeal's gonna be taping it'

'Yup'

'Then the president's gonna watch it'

'Uh-huh'

'Zelner and Ross had sex'

'CLOUD!!' Ross yelled at his friend who laughed. Ross was a cadet who was also in their class who Sarah had befriended after getting to know him through Cloud.

His shout brought Sarah out of her daze and she looked round at them blearily.

'Wha-?'

'You haven't been listening to a word we've been saying have you?'

'Course I have,' she lied

'Really?' he said sceptically, 'what was the last thing I said then?'

'Err...' she didn't know so she just took a wild stab in the dark, 'something about the end of the world?'

'No,' he said as if he thought her crazy, 'why would I say that?'

'Because it is?' she suggested hopefully

'How?'

She went back to staring at her empty plate before answering.

'I'm getting sent to Wutai,' she croaked pathetically

'What?'

'Uh-huh; end of the bloody world.'

Cloud and Ross sat there flabbergasted.

'Wh-when?' Ross finally managed to get out

'Dunno, some time tonight,' she said checking her watch, and then became slightly angry, 'damn General didn't even say what time. Just told me I was going then walked off. Twat.' She added sullenly.

'Sarah!' the boys scolded her.

'You can't say things like that about the General!'

'Yes I can!' she replied defiantly, 'If he hates me then I have every right to hate him.'

'Who's to say he hates you?' Ross asked curiously

'I can tell' she said moodily, 'he looks at me like I'm a piece of shit, and I know for a fact he thinks I'm too weak to go on this mission or get into Soldier because I'm a girl.'

The two boys were silent for a moment.

'You're sure he thinks that?' Ross asked sceptically.

'Yeah,' Cloud said, 'I mean, it would be pretty hard for anyone to think that after the way you kicked Zelner's butt today.'

Sarah couldn't help but smile.

'He may just be sceptical 'cos you're the first girl who's made it into the cadets' Cloud suggested.

'Yeah, or maybe he's gay,' Ross suggested causing Cloud to choke on his drink, and Sarah to burst out laughing.

'What's that got to do with anything?' Sarah giggled

'Dunno,' he shrugged, 'could explain why he hates you for being a girl, if that's the case of course.'

Sarah just shook her head in disbelief.

'So what you gonna do?' asked Cloud after a few minutes.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

'God knows. I could wait here for somebody to come and get me, or wait in my quarters, or go find somebody to ask.'

'You're probably best off going and asking someone,' Said Cloud.

'Yeah,' agreed Ross, who then quickly added, 'if it helps you make a decision; Genesis is staring at you again.'

Sarah didn't need telling twice and quickly sped out of the mess hall. Cloud looked over his shoulder and then back at Ross with his eyebrows raised.

'He's not even here,'

'I know, but it was fun.'

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_**Okay just a couple of notes here;**_

_**First of all the reason Sarah was getting stronger was because of her enhancement – you'll find out about that in later chapters.**_

_**Secondly don't worry I'm not making my OC into a Mary sue**_

_**Thirdly I know I'm a crap writer but feedback is appreciated - just hit that button and start typing!**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_I don't know if I'm going to make this a Tseng x OC fic or Sephiroth x OC fic_**, _**or maybe chuck Reno in somewhere - I'd love some feedback about this or I may not continue writing.**_

_**--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**_

'Breathe,' Sarah told herself as she sat on the helicopter which was taking her to her doom, 'just relax. You're going to be fine.'

_**1 hour earlier**_

'The mission you are going on is of the utmost importance,' president Shinra said in the mission briefing, 'your task is simple; infiltrate the enemy base and acquire information.'

He looked at the three people in front of him.

'Firstly, Tseng, you and Sarah will enter the base from the north side and scout out the area. I want to know what facilities there are, how many people, and what they are doing – make sure you are not seen! Secondly, once you have located the mainframe database, General Sephiroth,' he turned to him,' you will enter and attack, causing enough distraction for Sarah to hack in and retrieve as many files as possible. The Turks will then destroy the base so make sure you are out on time.'

Tseng and the General nodded as if this was the most routine thing in the world but Sarah gaped at him in horror. The president noticed,

'Is there something wrong cadet?' he asked lightly

'I – wha – bu-the-'she stammered trying to find her voice, 'there's just so much that could go wrong!' she blurted out and the President raised an eyebrow coldly.

'Are you saying that you agree with the General, and feel you are not qualified with the mission?'

Sarah's face fell slightly and she gaped at him for a moment before pulling herself together and shooting an angry side-ways glance at the man beside her.

'I'm not backing down' she said calmly, 'but if the General thinks I'm not good enough then why am I going on this mission?'

The president smirked slightly,

'I've had assurances from Tseng that you're combat skills are adequate for this mission,' at this Sarah's face reddened slightly and her stomach gave one of those funny lurches. But then she frowned slightly – how would Tseng know? She hadn't even talked him in a month, let alone trained with him. She pushed this to the back of her mind as Shinra continued, 'Also we believe you have knowledge of the area,'

Sarah's lips parted slightly in shock; he couldn't possibly mean-

'We believe that his is the base you were raised in,' he finished.

_**Back to the present**_

So here she was sitting in a helicopter, Reno and Rude in the front, and Sarah sitting in the back facing the leader of the Turks and the General without making eye contact with either.

To say that she was nervous was the understatement of the century; she was ghostly pale and trembling violently.

She glanced out of the window. It was completely dark outside as they needed to sneak in the dead of night.

She could feel a pair of eyes on her and she looked up to see Tseng watching her carefully. She gave him a quick frightened smile and looked away again, feeling her heart flutter.

She had figured out about a week ago, when she, Ross and cloud had been talking about relationships, that she had feelings for Tseng. She couldn't say why, but she felt just the way Ross had described when he was with a girl he liked, as when she was with Tseng.

Until today they hadn't spoken in about a month, in fact, they hadn't even spoken today, he had just nodded at her as she ran up to him Reno and Rude on their way to the president's office, to ask about the mission. The only contact they had really had was the occasional passing in the hallway where they might exchange a quick smile or nod.

'I don't know why I like him so much,' she reflected as she gazed out the window, 'he has really nice eyes, and he's guarded about his emotions, he doesn't look down on me and he cares without being overbearing,'

She looked down at her hands clasped in her lap,

'He's not like the General, Shinra or Zelner who hate or look down on me because I'm a girl, but I guess that's because he works with girls in the Turks. All I know is that when I look at him or think about him, it makes me feel warm and happy. And when I see him I just want him to take me in his arms and hold me...'

'Okay,' Reno's voice brought her out of her thoughts, 'first drop off point, good luck,' he said lowering the helicopter to just above the treetops of a forest.

Tseng nodded and stood up to slide the door open. A gust of cold air hit them as he and Sarah jumped neatly out of the plane and landed on the forest floor. They straightened up and watched the helicopter fly away.

'We are about a mile away from the base,' Tseng told her, as they began to walk, 'there have been reporting's of a dangerous fiend living in the area that only comes out at night. We've been hoping that this will avoid suspicion being raised as to why we are here by using it as an excuse. There's no doubt that someone will have spotted the helicopter so hopefully they'll think we're here for the beast and not the base.'

Sarah frowned up at Tseng,

'You know there's no way they'll buy that, and if they do they're still gonna beef up security just to make sure,'

'I know,' Tseng sighed, 'but the President has never been known for having great tactical skills, besides, it is better than making it blatantly obvious.'

Sarah nodded in agreement and they carried on in silence for a while. It was incredibly dark and hard to even see a hand in front of a face, so it was no surprise when Sarah tripped on something and fell to the ground.

'Ahh,' she groaned in pain and turned her head to see something glowing about a foot away. She picked it up as Tseng helped her to her feet.

'Are you alright?' he asked,

'Yeah, I'm fine,' she said brushing herself off and then examining the green sphere in her hand, 'is this cure materia?'

'Yes,' Tseng replied also glancing at the sphere, 'you should keep it, it may be useful,'

Sarah nodded and pocketed it as they began to walk again. Cadets weren't allowed materia unless they bought it themselves and Sarah didn't have any money and had never been out the Shinra building before she arrived there, so never had the opportunity.

She had learnt to use it though preferred weapons for fighting any day.

A sudden rustling of leaves came to their attention and they both drew their weapons and peered through the darkness.

'Fiends,' Tseng muttered holding his gun at the ready.

Without warning something lunged for Sarah forcing her to jump to the side and bring her blade down quickly slicing whatever it was down the throat and killing it. Three more appeared and Tseng shot two of them as Sarah killed the other.

They stood listening to the silence for a moment before deciding it was safe. Tseng scooped up a couple of items which the fiends had dropped which turned out to be some gil a couple of potions and a fire materia. He pocketed the potions but handed the materia and gil to Sarah.

'I have my own,' he told her as he held it out. She muttered her thanks and tried not to jump when their fingers brushed against each other. Tseng seemed not to notice anything and once again they carried on in silence through the trees.

'Um, Tseng,' Sarah muttered after a long period of silence in which she realised they must be nearly there by now, 'how are we supposed to get into the base?'

Tseng stopped walking and frowned at her incredulously, making her feel like a child asking a silly question.

'What do you mean?' he asked

'Well, it's not like we can just waltz in the front door without getting spotted or killed, and it's not like we can go in through a back door 'cos as far as I know there is only one entrance.'

Tseng was still frowning at her so she continued,

'And it's not an over ground base where we can hop over a fence. I was actually counting on us having a lot more man power to storm the place.'

He looked thoughtful for a moment.

'I suppose our best bet is just finding an entrance, getting inside and hope we don't get found.'

'And if we do?'

'Pretend to go willingly then put up a fight when there are least people around, providing they don't kill us at first sight,'

'Nah, I don't think they would. They'd probably torture us for information first. If the worst comes to the worst we'll wait for the general to find us and leave without the information if we have to.'

'It's the best we can do,' Tseng sighed, 'Do you remember where the entrance is?'

'Uh, yeah,' she said looking around in the darkness thoughtfully, 'we just have to look for the broken trees,'

'Broken trees?' he inquired sounding a bit confused

'I'll explain later,' she said quickly, 'just help me look for now'

Sarah wasn't looking at the Turk but could sense that he was mystified. Shrugging slightly she set off searching for the landmark. Easier said than done, they were surrounded by nothing but trees and seeing through them in the dark was close to impossible.

Finally after a whole ten minutes of searching they found them.

'It looks like something blasted them' Tseng observed, looking at the dozen or so trees which had all been blown away from the same point.

'Uh, yeah, that was me,' Sarah said blushing slightly.

'You?'

'When I broke out... I was a bit, well, err... angry,' she laughed nervously.

'It must have taken a lot of power to do that,' he muttered more to himself, but Sarah heard,

'That day was probably the only time they thought I wasn't a failure,' she thought bitterly.

Her fist clenched as she thought back.

**Flashback**

'Please,' panted Sarah who was on the ground sporting many injuries, 'please stop,'

Her opponent loomed over her, sneering,

'Already?' he taunted, 'well, I suppose that is expected from pathetic failures such as yourself'

Sarah glared at him angrily. He was a very tall, well built man, with dirty-blonde hair and green-brown eyes. That day he had been assigned as her training partner. They were the two main subjects of the experiments at that base and they were often called together to compare abilities.

Until that day they had always been pretty equal in strength considering he was a few years older than her and a man, but now he wiped the floor with her.

Over the past few months they had both noticed changes within themselves, only hers weren't constant; her powers kept fluxing so she was never the same strength as the week before.

For this she was called a failure, and him – he was the called the first successful prototype of Shark, the first real threat to Shinra and Soldier.

**Present**

She shook her head. Thinking about that wouldn't do any good now, she had to concentrate.

'The entrance should be just here,' she said walking over to where the blast must have originated from, and sure enough, instead of the dull thud of her shoes on the ground she heard the hollow sound of metal beneath her feet.

They cleared the dirt from it to reveal a large set of iron doors built into the ground. Sarah made to open them but Tseng held her back,

'Wait a moment,' he said as he took a small tracker out of his picket an fixed it to the door, 'so Sephiroth knows where to come,'

Sarah nodded,

'You ready?'

'Yes'

She pulled open the doors, careful to not make much sound and they slipped inside, and made their way down the ramp to a set of electronic doors with a panel next to it saying, 'authorisation required'

Tseng took out another gadget and attached it to the monitor and began breaking in. Sarah drew out her gun as the confirmation sign came up on the screen and the doors slid open. Both of them had their guns raised as they entered cautiously, but the halls were empty.

'No-one here,' Tseng muttered, obviously suspicious,

'What do you think?' she whispered,

'I think it's pushing it to say luck's behind it. Stay alert, and put a silencer on your gun,' he replied, doing the same, 'do you remember where to go?'

Sarah looked around. There were three corridors, one on their right, one on their left, and one straight ahead. She strained her memory for a minute and remembered running when she had been running towards the door.

**Flashback**

There were countless guns firing at her as she ran. The girls behind her were screaming but she didn't have time to look round to check on them as a handful more guards appeared round the corner and aimed guns at her.

They yelled for her to stop or else they would open fire, but she didn't listen and kept on running as she raised her fist and sent a ball of fire their way, both killing them all and blasting open the exit which lay directly ahead of her.

**Present**

'The labs are straight ahead,' she muttered.

Tseng looked at her and opened his mouth as if he were about to say something, but then closed it and followed Sarah down the hall. It struck them how oddly like Shinra it was; cold, metallic and empty. Sarah was just about comment on this when a noise at the end of the hallway startled them.

There was nowhere to hide so they shrunk back into the shadows and simultaneously raised their guns. The waited with baited breaths as a scientist walked past the end of the hall. Thankfully he was too busy reading a file to notice the two shadows lurking in the hall.

When he was gone Sarah let out her breath and they continued on. They turned right, to where the scientist had come from and peered through the glass of the door.

'This is the main lab,' Sarah whispered and moved aside so Tseng could take a look, 'that's where the mainframe computer is.'

There was a couple of scientist in the lab so they edged away and carried on through the maze of corridors.

In the next room they found a small mess hall which was reserved for the scientists who were on their break, as Sarah told Tseng.

They finally came to the place Sarah was most anxious and scared to get to – the cells.

'I have to go in there and see if my friends are alive,' she told him

Tseng opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud explosion. They whipped round is shock.

'That must be Sephiroth,' Tseng said and shot two guards who came running out of cell corridor, 'go and get the information'

'Bu-'

'Sarah!' he cut across her sharply but then his face softened, 'I'll see if there are any hostages, but you must go and get the information!'

Sarah had not wanted to kiss anyone on this planet more than she wanted to kiss Tseng now, but settled for a quick thank you before running off. But then she remembered something and quickly called over her shoulder, 'The girls only!'

Not waiting for a reply she pelted towards the lab and burst through the door, running straight into three guards. Without thinking, she shot one of them in the stomach and kicked another in the groin, but the third one grabbed her and pinned her arms behind her back forcing her to drop her gun.

Not forgetting her training she raised her foot and slammed it down hard on her captors, then quickly followed that by bringing her foot up and having it make contact rather violently with his nose. He fell back howling in pain and Sarah turned around, drew her sword and quickly stabbed him through the neck.

She turned again and saw the one she kicked in the groin reaching for his gun and stabbed him and the one she had shot consecutively. Looking around to see if there were any more guards, she picked up her gun and ran over to the mainframe computer.

It didn't take too long to get into the system and she quickly inserted a disk and began downloading the information.

'Hurry up!' she muttered as the sound of swords and guns drew closer to her, cursing the fact she had to give passwords.

She got information on everything; personnel, military, experiments, inventory. She was about half way through when the door opened behind her and she spun round to see the General standing there. For the first time she realised why he commanded such respect from others; he looked truly frightening with his mako-green eyes burning with the heat of battle and blood dripping from masamune.

'Hurry,' he said to her in an almost calm voice

'It's not done yet,'

'Then I suggest you do it quicker, the Turks have set bombs in the building'

'What!?' she yelped

'An air attack would prove little use against an underground base' he said coolly

'How long?'

'Five minutes,'

'Five minutes,' she thought then said to him, 'I'll be out by then, just make sure I've got a clean path and I'll make it,'

'Very well,' he nodded and left to deal with the guards, his silver hair swinging behind him.

She turned back to the computer,

'Come on,' she growled and resumed typing.

Just when she thought she was done she realised that one file hadn't downloaded, but no matter what she tried she couldn't get it. She checked her watch – just over two minutes left.

Sarah bit her lip. She could leave without it, but what if it was important, it had to be if it was protected so well she couldn't retrieve it. Then an idea struck her. She typed in a pass code and sent the file to her computer at Shinra where she could retrieve it later.

With that done she took the disk with only a minute to spare and ran for her life – literally. Blood pounded in her ears as she sprinted down the halls, trying her best not to slip in the pools of blood, or trip on the dead bodies.

The entrance was ahead of her but the door was closed – fifty seconds left

She reached the door and pummelled the open button – forty-five seconds left

The door wouldn't open; she was stuck – forty seconds left

She looked round desperately and saw a key card sticking out of a guards pocket and grabbed it – thirty-five seconds left

'Yo, c'mon,' Reno yelled back to the people on the helicopter, we have to go!'

'Not yet!' Tseng said, 'give it a minute, she will be here,' – thirty seconds left

No matter how many times she used it the card wouldn't open the door,

'Damn it!' she yelled and threw away the card in frustration. She pulled out her sword and fire materia and slotted it into her weapon – twenty five seconds left.

'We gotta go now, this place is gonna blow!' Reno yelled prepared to take the helicopter up.

'Just a little longer!' Tseng yelled back – twenty seconds left.

Sarah knew it was a long shot, but she had nothing left to try. She began summoning all her strength and focused it on the fire attack which she was praying would open the door. She began running towards the exit her sword with flames surrounding it raised in her hand – ten seconds left.

'I'm sorry, it's too late!' Reno yelled he began to pull the helicopter up. Tseng bowed his head and clenched his jaw, a feeling of despair and sorrow filling him as he slammed shut the door of the helicopter and they began to fly away – time up.

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_**Well what do you think?**_

_**Want to know what happens? Well I'd love at least one review before I update.**_

_**Come on please just give me that – ONE review!!!!!!!! **_

_**Thanks for reading :)**_

_**Until next time,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**Thank you to all the people who reviewed, I'll love you all for the rest of eternity.**_

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Tseng sat down in his seat, his fist clenched as the sound of the explosions met their ears. The General looked at Tseng and studied his uncharacteristic anger as the shock wave jolted the helicopter,

'Whoa, hold on, this is gonna be tricky,' Reno called as they tried to maintain their seats. The in hit the General; Tseng was the one who had wanted Sarah to come on the mission in the first place and had practically forced him into seeing her training to tell if she was good enough. If she died it was on his head.

'Shit!' Reno yelped as the helicopter received a sharp tug towards the base, before he managed to straighten it up with difficulty, 'either we've got major damage or we've got a cling-on!'

At this the general and Tseng's eyes met for the briefest of seconds before Tseng rushed to the door and wrenched it open.

'Argh!' he pulled back sharply as the heat of the burning below hit him. Shielding his face with his arm he peered over the edge cautiously.

Relief, pure relief swept through his body. There, below the helicopter, hanging on for dear life, was Sarah, her sword in one hand and the other clinging to the metal bar.

She didn't seem to notice the door open above the noise of the fire beneath her, which she stared into.

'Sarah!' Tseng yelled to her and she looked up. What he saw startled him; one side of her face was covered in third degree burns, but that didn't seem to faze her as she threw her sword up into the helicopter and clambered unsteadily onto the bar.

Tseng held out his hand which she gratefully accepted and was pulled into the helicopter, before the door was shut again and they took of once more.

'Ah!' Sarah winced in pain as she stumbled to the nearest seat and sat down. Now that she was inside they could see the full extent of the damage; it was not only her face that was burnt but the whole outside of her left arm too. 'Damn,' she muttered as she looked over herself.

'Here,' the General said and she looked up at him holding a cure materia which he used on her. She felt the pain numb to just a dull throb and saw the wounds knit together until they were fully healed. 'That will do until we get back,' he said, 'you'll need to get checked over properly.'

'Thanks,' she muttered. Sarah still didn't know what to think of the General. First of all he was very scary, and he also hated her, but then again he had just healed her, probably because he had to, she added as an afterthought.

'I would have got out on time if it wasn't for that damn door,' she said looking back down at her arm.

'The entrance?' Tseng asked sitting down opposite her.

'Yeah, it wouldn't open,'

'We made sure it was left open,' the General said and she frowned.

'Well, no matter what I tried it didn't budge,' she said defensively, 'in the end I had to blast it open with my sword and some fire materia. I think that's how I got all the burns,' she added thoughtfully.

'Oh by the way,' she carried on reaching into her pocket and retrieving the disk, 'here you go, I got everything.'

She handed the disk to the General who nodded in approval.

They were silent for a few moments, before Sarah looked up at Tseng,

'There weren't any survivors,' it wasn't a question as much as a statement.

'No, I'm sorry,' he said and Sarah shook her head.

'No don't be. It was stupid of me to think that there would be.'

She looked out of the window thoughtfully. They were quite a distance from the base now.

'They were probably all killed when we tried to escape,' she said sadly, 'and it was my fault'

The two men were looking at her with interest.

'What happened that day? How did you manage to escape?' the General asked

Sarah looked at the man facing her thoughtfully.

'My memory is still a bit hazy but this is what I remember,'

_**Flashback**_

Training was over for the day and Sarah was escorted back to her cell, fuming. Not only had she been wiped the floor with by the 'successful' one, but she had even been called pathetic and a failure by the scientist working on her.

'Get in there,' the guard said pointing a gun at her and motioning her towards her cell where she and all the other girls were kept. Since she was at the part of her cycle when she was at 'full potential', they didn't dare touch her.

_('Cycle?' Tseng asked)_

_('Yeah, I wasn't constantly strong, it kept coming and going. But even if I was at the top of the cycle I still couldn't match him in strength so they called me a failure. It wasn't until later that night they realised I had been holding it all back, even I didn't realise')_

Sarah entered the cell to find the other five girls waiting for her.

_('Those are the ones you wanted to see...' Tseng mused)_

_(Mm-Hmm, Annie was the youngest, she was four, and then it was Connie and Tessie who were eight, they were twins, and then there was Alexis who was two or three months older than me and the oldest Jen who was seventeen. We weren't all experiments; in fact I was the only girl to be experimented on. They wanted to see the results before wasting any more resources.')_

'Sarah?' Alexis said approaching her cautiously, 'are you alright?'

Sarah said nothing and just began pacing angrily up and down the cell, then stopped and suddenly –

WHAM!

Her frustration getting the better of her she hit the wall with all her might and crack ran along it. The girls screamed with shock and Sarah looked down at her own fist in wonder; she had never been able to pull together that much strength.

The door opened and two guards ran in, guns pointed at her, shouting something but she didn't listen. She moved too quickly for them and they fell unconscious on the floor.

The girls around her looked up at her, not knowing what to think.

'Come on,' Sarah said walking to the door, 'we're getting out of here'

_('Just like that?' the General asked)_

_('I had to persuade them to come but eventually they agreed. The alarm hadn't sounded yet so we stood a good chance of getting out.')_

The girls ran as fast as they could, with Sarah in the lead as she had picked up a gun and fire materia. She shot the guards in front of them and tried to ignore the sound of guards behind her. Everything was a blur. She heard the guns firing from all around, and she heard the girls behind her screaming. The exit was ahead of her but she had run out of ammunition for the gun.

The guards came round the corner blocking her way to the exit. With the materia in her had she summoned a fireball and killed them and blasted open the door.

She got outside and kept running, she didn't know how long for, but didn't stop until she passed out from exhaustion.

_**Present**_

'That's all I can remember,' Sarah said to the two men opposite her.

They remained silent for a moment, both apparently lost in thought.

'I suppose that's why you thought of the fire materia just back there,' Tseng mused, and Sarah smiled.

'I wasn't sure if it would work or not,' she said truthfully

'Your enhancement,' the general said thoughtfully then looked at her, 'is that what happened today?'

Sarah shook her head.

'I've stopped having the treatments, so I don't think it was'

'But Hojo said you still had an enhancement,' he replied.

Sarah thought about this for a minute.

'Perhaps it lingered in my system, or maybe all the treatments were just boosters.'

'Or maybe you're learning to use it naturally,' Tseng suggested

Sarah shrugged, 'who knows. As long as I don't have to go back to Hojo to find out,'

The two men hid their smiles. It was common knowledge how much Sarah and Hojo hated each other after word had gotten out about their argument over the importance of IQ. Somehow a simple discussion had escalated into Hojo threatening to release his latest experiment on her whilst she pelted him with glass vials. The memory still brought a smile to her lips.

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They arrived back at Shinra a while later and they got out of the helicopter and went to make their way inside, but the General held her back with a hand on her shoulder. Tseng looked back at the two of them but Sephiroth motioned for him to go ahead. The leader of the Turks cast them on last curious glace before the other three disappeared.

He removed his hand from her shoulder and went to stand near the edge of the building, looking up at the stars. Sarah watched him curiously,

'Okay,' she thought, 'so he keeps me back to what, stargaze?'

She approached him apprehensively and stood a few feet away from him. She didn't know whether to disturb him or not so she stood there awkwardly and looked down over Midgar.

'I owe you an apology,' he said after a while, still looking up at the sky.

Sarah's head jerked in his direction, not sure if she had just heard him right.

'I was wrong about you,' he said now looking down into the city.

For a moment Sarah thought about telling him that he should be sorry, but thought better of it; after all it must have taken a lot of guts to admit he was wrong to a cadet.

'Nah,' she said quietly, 'it's okay. Pretty much everyone else thinks the same.'

They fell silent again. Sarah felt nervous; she had never been alone with the General and was struggling to find something remotely interesting to say. Eventually she just gave up and looked back out over the city.

'How are you finding it here at Shinra?' he asked and Sarah was once again startled by him. She hadn't expected him to ask anything like that.

'Err-erm, I dunno,' she stammered, 'its good I guess. Apart from the people' she added as an afterthought.

Sephiroth turned to look at her with raised eyebrows and she blushed.

'Well not all the people,' she laughed nervously, 'Some people I actually like, some people I can, well, _stand_, others creep me out, and two people I hate more that the whole of Wutai put together,'

She said the last part more to herself but the General caught it and his lip twitched,

'I'm guessing one of them is the cadet you fought today, but who is the other?' he asked and Sarah's lips parted in surprise. Did he have the hearing of a fox or something?

'No-one' she said hurriedly. She didn't really feel like getting in trouble for complaining about an instructor, but when she saw him frown she realised her mistake; he thought she meant him.

She cleared her throat and muttered 'instructor Keller,' then blushed as she realised how stupid it sounded, but he just nodded.

'Well if you take your Soldier exams this year you won't have to put up with him much longer. Are you?'

'Umm, I don't know,' she said thoughtfully, 'I didn't think I could.'

'I don't see why not,' he said, 'we can count this mission towards your final evaluation, seeing as it succeeded.'

Sarah nodded but wondered about his choice of words. He saw her slight frown and looked away again.

'To be honest I fully expected you to fail,' he explained and Sarah felt a flush of anger which she tried to push away.

'Do you mean fail to get the information or get killed?' she asked stiffly.

He didn't answer.

'I thought so,' she muttered and leaned forward so her arms were resting on the railing in front of her. He had expected her to die.

'Man can this guy mess with your head,' she thought, 'first he's a git, then he's nice, then he's saying I should take my exams now, then he's saying he thought I would die. What the hell is going on?'

'I still don't get why the President let me go on such an important mission if you thought I would fail,' she admitted. Sephiroth was silent a moment before he answered.

'Tseng was the one who originally recommended you for the mission,' he said, watching Sarah for a reaction, 'he said he had full confidence in your ability to perform well.'

Sarah said nothing and continued to frown and for some reason looked sad.

'The president knew Tseng was risking more than his jobs worth by putting a cadet on this mission,' Sarah's lips parted in surprise, 'so he agreed because he knew Tseng must have a very good reason for it.'

'But I almost failed,' she breathed, 'he trusted me and almost lost everything for it!'

'That was his decision, and it paid off. The mission was a success.'

'I was seconds away from dying,' she said angrily and standing up straight, 'I almost failed' she closed her eyes for a moment as if in pain, 'I'm sorry,' she said, 'I should have been faster, it's my fault the mission almost failed,'

'No!' he said rather forcefully and she looked up at him in surprise, 'that was your first mission which was intended for higher level operatives only. You took on a Soldiers mission and succeeded. It was a success. '

Sarah stared at him for a few seconds and he met her gaze with blazing green eyes. Finally she lowered her gaze and nodded to the floor. She felt as if he had just made her turn into a pile of goo with that piercing look. He continued to watch her in the semi-darkness.

'Come,' he said turning towards the door, 'we have to go and see the president now.'

She followed him inside and winced as the light hit her. She glanced at the watch on her wrist and received a shock when she saw it was two in the morning.

'No wonder I'm tired,' she thought, rubbing her eyes.

They made their way to the briefing room to find everyone already there, waiting for them.

'What took you two so long?' Reno asked suggestively as they entered but backed down when Sephiroth glared at him.

Sarah blushed and looked round the room. There was only one person who she didn't know, who was sitting at the head of the table. She looked further along and to her horror saw not only Hojo, but Genesis a few seats away. Thankfully he was in the middle of a conversation with Angeal so he didn't notice her. The others in the room were Rude, standing next to Reno, Tseng sitting to the right of the man she didn't know and the president sitting to the left of the man she didn't know.

'I think you know most people here,' Sephiroth said to Sarah and all eyes landed on them, 'The two men over there are first class soldiers, Angeal Hewely, and Genesis Rhapsodos,' they each nodded to her as their names were said, and Genesis gave her another one of his grins.

'And this is Director Lazard,' he said motioning to the blond man who stood up and held out his hand for her to shake

She took it and gave him a shy smile; she wasn't used to meeting this many people.

'A pleasure to meet you Sarah' he said kindly, 'I've been hearing a lot about you'

'Thank you,' she said quietly, wondering if those things were good or bad, 'it's a pleasure to meet you too sir'

He smiled at her,

'Take a seat,' he told her as he himself sat down.

Sephiroth motioned for her to take a seat between him and Tseng, and the meeting begun.

'So, did you get it?' the president asked, getting straight to business.

'Yes,' Sephiroth said, pulling out the disk and passing it along.

'Excellent,' he said examining it, 'what did you get information on?' he shot at Sarah who jumped slightly.

'I didn't have time to sift through it all to find the useful stuff so I just got everything,' she said quietly.

'Excellent,' he said nodding in approval, 'I want every bit of information we can get'

'What types of facilities did they have?' he asked

'The main things we saw were labs and cells; we thought it would be best if we didn't go to the training facilities.' Tseng answered and Shinra nodded.

'The quality of the labs?' he asked

'Rivalling Shinra's in quality of equipment, just not on such a large scale,' Tseng replied

'How many labs do they have?' he asked Sarah

'I don't know,' she answered, 'in the time I was there I really only saw the inside of a cell, that one lab, and the training facility. But I think there are one research room and one testing facility in each of the underground bases. They all have their own scientists who work independently with the base. I think that's so they can test many different theories at once.'

'Very well. What do you know about the successful prototype they have produced? Was he at the same base as you or not.'

Sarah bit her lip slightly. She really didn't like talking about this,

'Yes he was raised at the same base as me. We were training partners of sort.' She said. A fair few sets of eyebrows were raised at this.

'And how strong was he?'

'Well I have nothing to compare it to in Shinra but he is very strong.'

'And how does he compare to you?'

Sarah flushed slightly before answering, choosing her words carefully.

'When we were growing up, we were always pretty equal in strength, even though he was a few years older than me, and, well, a boy. But in the couple months before I escaped, the experiments really started to take effect and he was able to wipe the floor with me. I just didn't realise I had been holding back,' she added quietly.

'Holding back?' Lazard enquired, leaning forward slightly.

'Damn' Sarah though, 'I have really got to start just _thinking _these things'

'Do you mean you are as strong as this man?' he asked

'Err, I don't really know, I didn't run into him on my way out, I just disposed of the guards and kept on running,' she said looking down at the desk in shame; she should have stayed back to protect the other girls.

Lazard was frowning looking slightly confused.

'Oh, that was the night I escaped. I got angry because they were all saying I was a failure, and I... ran'

Lazard leaned back in his chair surveying her thoughtfully and opened his mouth to say something, but Angeal, sensing her discomfort cut across him,

'Why don't we see what is on the disk?' he said, drawing all eyes to him.

'Yes, of course,' the president said, and Lazard inserted the disk into the computer. Sarah gave Angeal a small smile of thanks which caused Genesis to give his friend a very disgruntled look.

They all turned to watch the monitor as various bits of information popped up on the screen.

'Look under experiments,' Shinra told Lazard who clicked on the folder and two sub folders appeared labelled 'Sarah' and 'Tyler'.

'Do you mind?' he asked Sarah, the cursor hovering over her name.

She was a bit annoyed at them having a look at her file as an experiment but she gave them permission anyway, knowing they would look at it sooner or later.

A picture of her came up along with basic information.

'Ah,' said Reno slyly, looking at the date next to her name 'so she has a birthday, and on December 22nd'

'For the sake of my sanity Reno, don't remember it,' Sarah told him, remembering what Cissnei had said about Reno and Birthday's.

Rude and Tseng carefully concealed their smiles.

The rest of the information detailed what progress she had made over her life time but at the bottom it read – 'Presumed to be dead after attempted escape'

'Huh,' Sarah said thoughtfully, but didn't elaborate.

After they had finished with her file they opened Tyler's. Again, the progress made was detailed but this time at the bottom with a date of yesterday next to it, it read – 'transferred to Wutai army, awaiting orders to hunt down and kill 'Sarah''

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_**UnchainedMelody94 **_


	8. Chapter 8

_**Okay just so you know this chapter is really random and it seemed good in my head, but I don't think it's come out that well now it's written down. All the same – enjoy!**_

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Sarah stared at the monitor in shock before leaning towards the General and whispering

'Yeah if it's possible I would like to take my exams this year'

He smirked slightly and nodded.

'So they already have one in the army,' Shinra muttered.

Sarah stifled a yawn behind her hand.

'As far as I know, ours was the only base to produce anything near successful, and since we destroyed it, and we have all the information here, I highly doubt there's gonna be anymore unless the bases shared information,' she said rubbing her tired eyes.

'He considered this for a moment then nodded,

'We'll have to see when we find the next base,' he sighed

'You seem quite happy referring to yourself as nothing more than the product of an experiment,' Hojo sneered out of nowhere.

At this a few people in the room made noises of shock or disgust, and Sarah heard Reno mutter 'Bastard!' Either side of her Tseng shifted uncomfortably and Sephiroth clenched his fist briefly under the table as she looked at him coolly.

'I was reminded of the fact that I am, as you so eloquently put, nothing more than an experiment, every day of my life so I've grown pretty used to it thank you very much.'

Hojo sneered again and she gave him a death-glare.

'The President cleared his throat quickly before more things ended up broken.

'Yes, well, I think that will be all for tonight. You are excused.'

Before anyone could stop her Sarah got up very quickly and stormed out ahead of everyone else.

In truth it did bother her; a lot. She had come to expect it from Wutai, but from Shinra?

'No,' she thought as she stepped into the elevator, 'I didn't expect it from them.'

None of them knew how much it really affected her. They weren't there to see her wake up every other night in a cold sweat, reliving the pain of the experiments.

They weren't there to see her rush to the bathroom to throw up.

And they definitely weren't there the few times she allowed herself to cry and let it carry her off to sleep.

Sarah stepped off the elevator and walked briskly to her room, tears burning in her eyes. Once inside she kicked off her shoes and flung herself down onto the bed and sobbed into her pillow.

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The next time she opened her eyes, daylight was streaming through the window. She rolled over and put her hand to her head, thankful beyond anything that it was her day off today.

She stood up and swayed dangerously on the spot before stumbling backwards and falling onto her bed again. She took a few deep breaths then tried again and remained upright.

'God I feel like crap,' she muttered as she shuffled into the bathroom to take a shower.

A while later and fully refreshed, Sarah put on her usual day-off-day clothing (black denim shorts, a white top, black boots, and black fingerless gloves) tied her hair up, and headed off to her usual day-off-day place; the gym.

Ross and Cloud, along with all the other cadets thought she was crazy for wanting to train on her day off, so once again when she entered it was mercifully empty. It was how she liked it; it meant she could do her own thing, in her own time, without interruptions.

She always did the same thing when she was here; half an hour doing stretches, push-ups, sit-ups, etc; half an hour on the treadmill; then half an hour with a punch-bag.

She went over to get a drink form the water-cooler in the corner before starting her usual routine of handsprings and somersaults, etc, when she heard some people walk in. She groaned inwardly – she really hated practicing in front of people.

Turning around she spotted Angeal and some other guy with spiky black hair and bright mako-blue eyes.

'Oh well, not as bad as it could be,' she thought, but then nearly dropped her cup as the next person walked in. It was Genesis, but – no coat! Instead he had a plain black vest top on which showed off his muscles pretty nicely.

He looked round as he entered, caught Sarah staring at him and winked. She blushed furiously and turned away to hide her grin.

'Okay Sarah, just go back to the treadmill and run it off,' she told herself as she disposed of her empty cup and went back to the running machine.

She was doing fine for about ten minutes until she heard a loud thud from behind her. She looked round to see Angeal pinning the spiky haired boy to the ground whilst Genesis laughed.

'Aww, c'mon Angeal,' the boy whined, turning his head awkwardly to give him the 'puppy dog' eyes.

She turned her eyes on Genesis and watched him for a moment but looked away quickly as their eyes met again.

'Damn,' she thought, resisting the urge to smack herself in the head, 'why'd he have to catch me staring at him again – he's gonna get the wrong impression.'

She had just vowed never to look at the man again when a voice sounded in her ear,

'Having fun?'

She yelped in shock and turned around quickly, only just managing to get her feel on the none-moving parts, to see Genesis' face about a foot form hers.

'E-er,' she stammered

'Why don't you come and train with us if you're lonely?'

'I'm not lonely,' she said quickly, trying her best to lean back without being rude, 'besides, I was planning on living past my sixteenth birthday,'

'Don't worry, we'll be gentle,' he said, and Sarah couldn't help thinking there was a double meaning behind that.

'U-um,'

'Great!' he said without waiting for an answer, and took hold of her wrist and dragged her away.

'Look!' he said proudly to his two friends and he pulled Sarah over to them, '_I've_ got a friend too.'

'Very nice,' Angeal said looking amused.

'Hi' the other one said bounding forward, 'I'm Zack!'

'I'm Sarah,' she said looking rather embarrassed.

'Hey, you're the female cadet aren't you?' he asked excitedly and she nodded, 'that's so cool! I didn't think they'd let girls in, no-one believed it when they heard.'

'Yes,' Angeal smirked, 'I remember Genesis thinking it was just a very small, effeminate looking boy who had joined our ranks.'

Sarah remembered back to her first day and grinned.

'Humph, well, all that aside,' Genesis cut in, 'the point is, now that _I _have a friend, we can play _new_ games!'

Angeal looked at his friend apprehensively,

'What did you have in mind?'

Genesis' face split into an evil grin.

_**5 minutes later**_

'I must have been insane to agree with this!' Sarah shrieked.

Anyone who walked in then would have thought they had gone crazy.

Sarah was sitting atop Genesis' shoulders, and Zack atop Angeal's, and the two on the bottom were running around like blind madmen.

The aim of the 'game' was for either Zack or Sarah to have their opponent at the point of submission. This meant having their wooden sword (they didn't dare use real ones) at a fatal point, or by knocking the other off their 'steed'.

The catch was both Genesis and Angeal had been spun round violently to make them dizzy and they were blindfolded, so the people on top had to give them directions. Also they weren't allowed to stop running.

'GENESIS, GO LEFT! NO, not that much! No, more, AHH NO! Treadmill! Go right! Go right! AHH, SHIT, boxing bag! GO LEFT. NO, WALL! Turn around, SHIT, BOXING BAG! GO RIGHT!'

A few metres away Zack and Angeal weren't having much luck either.

'No! That way! That way!' Zack screeched pointing at the other two.

'I CAN'T SEE WHERE YOU'RE POINTING YOU TWIRP!' Angeal roared

'LEFT, LEFT!' he yelled, Angeal turned, 'NO THE OTHER LEFT!'

'THAT'S RIGHT!'

'OKAY THEN GO THAT WAY!'

Back with Genesis and Sarah.

'GO RIGHT! Okay, STRAIGHT AHEAD! NO LEFT – AARGH! GET BACK HERE!!!' she screamed at Zack and Angeal who were running the wrong way, unaware of the group of people who appeared at the door and froze, 'Genesis, straight ahead – FAST!'

'Angeal, turn around!' He turned around and Zack and Sarah raised their swords, then realised their mistake.

'LEFT!' Sarah screeched at the top of her voice the same time as Zack yelled 'RIGHT!' and before anyone could stop it – WHAM!

The four of them collided and fell with an almighty crash to the floor, laughing their heads off and clutching each other for dear life.

'Well, _that_ was interesting' Reno muttered and he, Rude, Cissnei, Tseng, Cloud, Ross and Sephiroth stood at the door in shock at the sight of the four bodies tangled together.

Sarah and Zack still had their legs around the other's shoulders, Sarah was laughing into Zack's chest while he had his arms around her, Angeal's hands had found Sarah's hips to try and break her fall and he hadn't removed them, and Genesis had hold of her legs while he laughed into Angeal's stomach.

Over at the door Cloud and Ross hand their hands over their mouths to stifle their laughter, the four Turks looked faintly amused but alarmed, but the General looked pissed!

'What do you think you are doing!?' his voice boomed out, quickly ceasing everyone's laughter and making them jump in fright.

The four on the floor quickly untangled themselves and scrambled to their feet, disposing of the swords and blindfolds in the process.

Sarah and Zack scurried to behind the two first calls Soldiers as Sephiroth stormed towards them, his eyes blazing.

For a moment Sarah wondered if he was going to hit them.

'The four of you, my office, now,' he said in a deathly calm voice which frightened them more than the shouting.

They hurried out of the room, not daring to speak. Sarah clung to Zack's arm until they were out, and avoided making eye contact with the other's as she passed.

No-one said anything as they made their way to the General's office. Sarah was incredibly glad he didn't go with them because her knees might have given away.

Once they reached his office his secretary looked up and opened her mouth to say something, but when she saw the looks on their faces she thought better of it and discretely moved all Sephiroth's appointments back 10 minutes.

Sarah was shaking like mad as they sat in the waiting area; she had never seen anyone so angry, and it scared her.

'The two of you say nothing unless you are spoken to, we will handle Sephiroth,' Angeal told the two younger people.

They nodded and Sarah looked down at her shaking hands. She felt cold, and ill. Everyone was silent until they heard footsteps approaching.

'Just remember to breath and you'll be fine,' Genesis muttered to Zack and Sarah.

'In,' the General said pointing to his office. They entered and he followed them in, shutting the door behind him and making his way around the organised desk.

'Explain,' he said as soon as he sat down.

'It was just a bit of fun,' Genesis said grinning, hoping it would calm the silver-haired men down, but it only made him angrier.

'Fun,' he practically snarled, 'your idea of fun involves three members of soldier and a cadet colliding with each other?'

If they hadn't been so scared they would have laughed, even the playful spark had gone from Genesis' eyes.

'Did you not stop to think what the consequences could have been? Sarah was lucky to get away with as little damage as she has,' he said angrily motioning towards Sarah's shoulder which she now noticed was incredibly bruised and swollen form where she landed on it. The other's looked at her guiltily.

'Huh,' she said thoughtfully prodding her shoulder, 'I didn't even feel that.'

'Maybe that is because you hit you head,' he growled and Sarah looked up shocked, thinking she had just been insulted, 'Zack, would you take her to the infirmary?'

Zack led Sarah out of the room and on the way out the other's heard them say

'Did he just insult me?'

'No, you really did hit your head.'

'Oh'

_**In the Infirmary**_

'Okay,' said the doctor as he passed a light in front of her eyes, 'it looks like you have a minor concussion. You should stay here over night.'

'No!' Sarah said, jumping up and startling him, 'I can't. The General will kill Genesis, Angeal and Zack if he finds out they nearly gave me brain damage!'

'Angeal? But he was always such a goody-two-shoes,' he laughed, and then shook his head, 'I'm sorry, but it is my duty to give the General my report and make sure you get the right medical treatment.'

'Oh, please can't you let this one slide?' she begged, 'I'll rest up, I promise, it's my day off anyways. I just don't want them to get into more trouble over me.'

He surveyed her for a moment then sighed.

'Okay fine,' he said, 'But I want you back down here first thing in the morning for a check up, and if you feel any sharp pains in your head I want you to come straight back, no matter what time it is, understand?'

'Thank you!' she squealed and hugged him, before hurrying out of the infirmary.

She walked back to the Turks living area trying to ignore the stares from everyone she passed – apparently the news of her 'collision' had spread fast, and from what she head people calling to her they thought they were have a foursome. _Gross!_

When she entered the recreational area that lead up to the rooms she found Reno, Rude, Cissnei and Tseng talking among themselves. Apparently they were talking about her, she guessed they were at any rate when Reno imitated the collision with hand and burst out laughing.

Sarah didn't know whether or not to be offended, but when Rude spotted her then kicked Reno to shut him up, she got her answer. The small smile that has been on her lips vanished and so did all thoughts of going to talk to them.

She felt slightly betrayed and felt as if her stomach had just dropped out of her. It was stupid really she thought as she swept past them her eyes averted to the floor, she didn't even know them that well. After all, even though they all had rooms here, they had their own places too; they normally only stayed here if they couldn't be bothered to go home, or had a late mission.

No matter how much she wanted to cry, she wouldn't let herself, she had to show she was strong, now more than ever. She heard Cissnei get up,

'Hey Sarah, hold on a second,' she called and ran up to her, her face still red from laughing, 'how are you? You looked pretty bad earlier.'

Sarah looked up at the girl coolly,

'I'm fine,' she said shortly, trying to keep emotion out of her voice, 'but if you'll excuse me I have work to do,'

Without saying another word she turned and walked away leaving the slightly guilty and hurt female Turk behind.

Cissnei turned to the other's looking ashamed. Reno scratched the back of his head, Rude shifted uncomfortably and Tseng was looking after Sarah with a pained expression on his face.

Once more in her room, Sarah went down and sat at the small desk in the corner. She picked up a pen and tried to continue with an essay she had started yesterday. She had desperately wanted to write one entitled 'Hojo's an idiot' but it hadn't really been relevant to the subject.

She wrote two more paragraphs before getting interrupted by a knock on her door. She sighed angrily before answering,

'Come in,' she called, and the door opened to reveal the General.

She stood up quickly, not wanting to anger him again by being disrespectful now that he looked a lot calmer.

'Sit down,' he told her as he entered and she did as she was told. Somehow her room felt a lot smaller now he was there.

'I want to talk about what happened today,' he said. Sarah had guessed this would be the case but it didn't console her any, 'it was incredibly foolish of you to that,'

Sarah bowed her head slightly and looked at the floor,

'I know,' she said then looked back up at him, 'but I've never really had fun before in my life. And I've never laughed and really meant it like I did back there. It was definitely worth a couple of bruises.'

'A couple of bruises it may be, but the fact remains that you acted irresponsibly and could have came out a lot worse,' he said, sounding a little impatient.

It was all she could do to stop herself from rolling her eyes,

'With all due respect sir,' she said stiffly and he raised an eyebrow at the sudden formality, 'I have been raised in combat all my life and I'm not afraid of a bit of pain, in fact, combat and pain are really the only things I truly know, so you'll forgive me for wanting to have a happier life now that I'm free from those confinements,'

Sephiroth considered her for a moment before speaking again,

'Whilst I know that being raised solely for combat is restricting, it doesn't warrant doing something stupid and have the risk of serious injury, though I do realise that there were certain differences between our quality of upbringing,'

Sarah frowned at him,

'You were raised for combat too?' she asked and he nodded.

'By Shinra scientists,' he said

'Wait-'she said quickly, looking quite horrified, 'you don't mean Hojo?'

He nodded again, 'he was one of them,'

Sarah's jaw dropped in horror,

'Wow,' she said, 'suddenly my life looks really good!'

Finding this out actually made her feel a little bit better – she wasn't the only one, even though she knew she would never live up to his standards. He chuckled slightly.

'So, you never did anything really stupid, just for a laugh?' she asked timidly, wondering if he would answer.

'Well, I do remember getting drunk with Genesis and Reno of the Turks once,' he said thoughtfully, 'and I ended jumping of the top of Shinra building'

Sarah clapped her hand to her mouth and tried not to laugh.

'Wha-what happened?'

'I don't remember,' he said shaking his head, 'suffice to say I lived,'

Sarah laughed. She was feeling a lot better now.

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**_Well what do you think?_**

**_Please review because I really need feedback on this story or I may not continue with it._**

**_PLEEEEAAAASSSSEEEE!!!_**

**_thanks for reading,_**

**_UnchainedMelody94  
_**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Okay, this chapter I wrote because someone asked what Sephiroth said when Sarah and Zack left, and I decided to expand it and see where it went. Enjoy!**_

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They watched Sarah and Zack disappear before the General turned his attention back to the other two.

'I expected better,' he said simply, 'I let you come to that meeting to get to know her because she is going to need as much support in Soldier as she can get, not,' he turned to Genesis in particular here, 'so you can fawn over your latest obsession.'

'I'm not obsessed with her,' he said indignantly, 'I just find her very interesting.'

'Which, for you, translates as obsession,' Angeal smirked at his friend and Genesis pouted,

'But she's so small, and cute-'

'That's enough,' the General said sternly, but found it difficult to keep the amusement out of his voice, 'small and cute she may be, but seeing as there is a madman from Wutai after her, I don't think Shinra should be helping to bring about her untimely demise,'

Genesis and Angeal stared at him in shock then slowly turned to face each other in mock horror,

'Did my ears deceive me, or did the _Almighty General Sephiroth_ just refer to a girl as cute?' Genesis said

'I think he just did,' Angeal smirked turning an amused eye on his friend, who, if looked at under a microscope, was blushing. But thankfully for him they didn't notice.

'Remember this moment Angeal,' Genesis said sombrely as if speaking in a sermon, 'for on this day we have made a very important discovery; Sephiroth is _human_!'

Angeal laughed and Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

'Oh, his first crush! Our little boy is growing up!' Angeal laughed.

'Yeah, but who can blame him?' Genesis grinned

'True,' he agreed, then laughed 'although I did think he'd pick someone taller,'

'You honestly think I like her in that way,' Sephiroth sneered rather defensively,

The other two simply glanced at each other then said '_yes!_' at the same time.

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows with an amused expression on his face, but then shook his head.

'Were off the point here, you could have ended up causing fatal damage and then I would have nobody to have my supposed 'crush' on'

'AHA! So he admits it,' genesis exclaimed,

'Also,' he continued as if he hadn't heard, 'Shinra would have lost a valuable source of information which is leading us to eradicating Shark before they take a hold,'

'Sephiroth, relax,' Angeal said calmingly, 'we knew what we were doing-'

'Yes, it sure looked like it when you blindly ran into each other' he scoffed

'We just thought she'd like some company,' genesis said

'So you decided to run around like juvenile idiots and get her injured?'

'Come on Sephiroth, she was laughing!' Angeal said exasperatedly, 'she was having fun for once. I mean how much fun do you think she's had, what with the way she's been treated at Shinra and the way she was brought up?'

Sephiroth considered this for a moment.

'Oh, I get it,' Said Genesis slyly to Angeal, 'he's just jealous that he wasn't there having fun with her too.'

'Okay, if I wasn't so impressed that you haven't quoted Loveless at me yet I would kill you for that. What makes you so sure I like her?' Sephiroth sighed

He had hoped to catch them off-guard with this and make them admit they were joking, but to no avail.

'You denied it,' said Genesis ignoring the loveless comment.

'And were defensive' added Angeal

'You talked to her on your own yesterday'

'You never talk to cadets alone if you can help it'

'You pretend to look down on her because she is a girl,'

'But you're not actually sexist,'

'You went to see her train,'

'You'd normally send one of us'

'You recommended her for a 'higher operatives only' mission'

'You wouldn't even give a third class soldier that mission,'

'You were really angry just now because she got hurt'

'And I'm pretty sure part of that was because I had my hands on her hips,'

'And I had mine on her legs'

'And you wish it was you touching her-'

'Enough,' he said in a deathly calm voice. Why was he angry, it was a joke right?

'First of all I denied it because I don't,' he said. But then another little voice spoke in his head – 'Are you sure?' He ignored it.

'Secondly, we talked to discuss the possibility of her taking her Soldier exams this year,' he said to the two men, but the little voice in his head spoke again – 'Yes but you also apologised to her, and you never admit you are wrong to a cadet.'

'Thirdly, I treated her like that because I was under the impression that she was exceptional to get into Soldier, but she only proved to be mediocre until yesterday. I went to see her train because Tseng recommended I go see how well she could fight, so he could approve her for a mission, and the only way I could refuse her for it was if she was a terrible fighter, which she was not.'

He paused for a moment. He knew he had left chunks out, but he didn't care.

'And finally, I have already outlined my reasons for being angry, and I assure you, I have no inclination to 'touch' her,' he finished. The little voice spoke again – 'liar'

To his surprise, Angeal and Genesis were smiling.

'It's okay to have feelings for someone you know,' Angeal said

'Yeah,' Genesis agreed, 'you might not even realise it yet, but it's there'

'We've known you too long to not realise. You've never been like this with anyone else before.'

Sephiroth stared at his two friends – how did him reprimanding them turn into them lecturing him?

'Did the two of you hit your heads also?' he asked them, 'I've known her for a month, and only spoken to her properly once-'

'That doesn't make any difference,' Genesis stated before he could continue

'Yeah, and you have quite a few things in common,' Angeal said, 'You were both raised for combat,'

'And by scientists,'

'And from what I've heard you're both unnaturally clever,'

Sephiroth glanced at a file that lay on his desk. Sarah's teachers for non-practical lessons had written to him to say she had already completed that year's course in a month, and had requested she be given something else to do instead of just sitting there.

'General your next appointment is in two minutes,' his secretary buzzed through on the speaker and he sighed.

'Well, this has been fun,' said Genesis grinning and walking to the door.

'You should go talk to her,' Angeal said as he followed his friend

'She still needs to be 'told off' anyways,'

'Get to know her a bit better,' Angeal suggested

'After all, who can resist _the General_' Genesis snickered and they disappeared before he could really get angry.

'That went well,' Genesis said as they walked away from the office,

'You think so?' the other asked and the redhead nodded then suddenly snickered.

'I can't believe he waited until now for his first crush!'

'I know,' Angeal said sounding almost worried, 'I wonder how he'll cope. Do you- Genesis?'

Angeal turned to find his friend had stopped to stare at the notice board with a wide, evil grin on his face. Wondering what was so interesting Angeal approached it and frowned. He could only see the usual mission notices until Genesis pointed at the small flier which he was looking at. He stared at it for a moment before it dawned on him what his friend was planning and his jaw dropped slightly.

'_You're not?_'he asked his friend, aghast.

'Yep!'

'How?'

'You'll see...'

Angeal shook his head in disbelief and went to join Zack in the training room.

_**15 minutes later**_

'Ah, sir, I was hoping to speak to you,' Genesis called to the president who was heading to his office.

'Make it quick,' he snapped, 'I have a lot of work to do,'

'It's about the annual ball,' he said but Shinra cut him off,

'We are _not_ having it Loveless themed,' he all but yelled at the redhead

'For once sir, I wasn't even going to suggest it' he said wiping spit from his face in disgust

'Oh, then what is it?'

'I was just wondering whether Sarah will be able to go even though she'll still only be fifteen,'

'Why?' the president asked suspiciously

'Oh well, I was thinking that it would be good for Shinra's image if the public knew there was a girl in SOLDIER,' he lied convincingly. Shinra considered this for a moment.

'Yes it could be,' he said thoughtfully, slowing down his pace, 'although it could be risky to have her in the public eye with the current situation,'

Thankfully for him, Genesis had thought this over very carefully.

'I have a solution for that,' he said quickly dodging Scarlet who passed him winking, 'If she was seen to be with one of the higher-ups, say, the General, it would give the impression that she has Shinra's full support and backing, and therefore is not an easy target.'

The president stopped short at this.

'Yes, your right,' he said and Genesis inwardly congratulated himself, 'although it is highly unusual for a cadet to go to one of these events.'

'Well if she takes her exams this year she'll be in SOLDIER by that time, because there is very little chance of her failing.'

'The General did say she should take her exams this year...' he mused, 'Very well, she can go as long as someone agrees to take her. We'll just have to see who...'

'Thank you sir,' he said and ran off.

_**20 minutes later**_

'_YOU WHAT!?'_ Sarah screeched as she got up and chased the second soldier to disturb her peace out of her room.

'I swear to god,' she cried as Genesis ran down the stairs and across the recreational area, 'if I didn't have a concussion I'd come over there and kill you!'

He turned at the door and winked before Sarah's pen went flying at him and he scarpered.

'You have a concussion?'

Sarah turned around to see the four Turks sitting at a table frowning up at her.

'Well what do you expect?' Sarah said exasperatedly, 'me and three SOLDIER's collided with each other!'

Reno snickered at the memory of it. Sarah suddenly frowned.

'What were you lot doing there?' she said, 'I wasn't expecting an audience.'

'We went on a wild goose chase round the whole building looking for you,' Reno said, 'we were even about to go and see if you were with Hojo before your two friends said you were in the gym,'

'Oh so it's _their_ fault.'

'Why do you spend your days off in the gym?' Cissnei asked suddenly

'Got nothing better to do,' Sarah shrugged then realised something,

'Er, aren't you four supposed to be working?' she asked unsurely

'We are working,' said Reno absentmindedly

'You're playing cards,' she said eyeing the cards in their hands

'It's challenging enough,' he said

'Keeping a poker face is _challenging?_' she asked raising her eyebrows

'You know how to play?' Cissnei asked sounding surprised

'Cloud and Ross got me into it,' she said looking at the cards in Reno's hands – he needed to fold.

Reno grinned and pulled up a chair for her to sit in.

'We'll deal you in next round,' he said brightly as she sat between him and Cissnei, 'until then you can help me!'

'Cheat' Cissnei muttered.

'I resent that,'

Sarah just laughed and watched the game in progress. It was easy to pick up on when Reno was bluffing as he kept feigning impatience by drumming his fingers. Sarah mentally shook her head – he really was an idiot.

'Not again!' Reno whined as Tseng won again with three aces. Sarah laughed, and almost felt sorry for him – it wasn't his fault Tseng had a good technique.

'For the love of Gaia,' he said as he dealt her in, 'if you don't manage to beat him I'll cry,'

'That would actually be really funny,' Sarah laughed as she caught Tseng's eye.

Bring it on.

Half an hour later however, Tseng still remained undefeated and Sarah couldn't stop laughing from Reno's frustration. He, Cissnei and Rude, who had already lost all their chips, watched eagerly as the other two studied their cards.

'All in,' Sarah said mockingly as she put her last chip in the middle.

Tseng looked at her closely before he pushed his mountain of chips into the middle.

'All in,'

The three spectators gasped appreciatively and Sarah laughed again. Reno fidgeted in his seat

'Too much suspense!' he whined

'Okay, on the count of three lay down your cards before Reno wets himself,' Cissnei said looking just as eager as Reno, 'one... two... three!'

Sarah bit her lip as they both revealed there hand, smacked a hand to her head and burst out laughing. Tseng had three two's a four and a nine, whilst Sarah had –

'A ROYAL FLUSH!' Reno exclaimed, 'SARAH'S WON!!!'

The other three laughed as Reno tackled her off her chair and hugged her.

'R-Reno!' she chocked still laughing but he clung onto her even tighter. Eventually Rude had to drag him off the still laughing girl on the floor.

She stood up shakily trying to stop herself from laughing and caught Tseng's eyes who was grinning.

'Believe it or not that was actually the first good hand I've ever had,' she laughed.

'We have got to do that again,' Cissnei said a few minutes later when they had all stopped laughing and Sarah nodded.

'It's a pity we didn't get to see Reno cry though,' she mused and said redhead punched her playfully in the arm.

'Meanie!' She squealed.

'When's your next day off?' Cissnei asked her

'Same time next week,' she replied

'You should come into town with us. I need to get a dress for the ball anyway,'

Sarah looked up alarmed, 'you're supposed to wear dresses!?'

'Yeah... are you going?' she asked and Sarah nodded miserably.

'They're not that bad you know,' Cissnei laughed.

'Genesis talked the President onto saying that I have to accompany one of the 'higher-ups' which most likely means the General,' she pouted

'Really?' Reno asked sounding shocked, 'but he's the tallest person in Shinra... and you're the smallest... you'd have to wear stilts!'

It was Sarah's turn to punch him in the arm, 'he didn't say it was a hundred percent, the General doesn't even know.'

'Yeah, and higher-ups could mean anyone,' Cissnei agreed but Reno stopped her there

'If you think they'd make her go with Heidegger, Palmer, or Hojo, you're crazier than I thought,'

'You're right,' she muttered, 'so really that only leaves, the General, Tseng and Rufus,'

Sarah's and Tseng's eyes met as she said this, but they looked away quickly. Sarah felt her pulse quicken.

'I wonder if they would let me go with Tseng' she thought, 'and I wonder if he would agree to go with me'

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_**I wonder what will happen...**_

_**Review and find out!**_

_**(I'm not updating until I get at least one review for this!)**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94 **_


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**anything**_ **no matter how much I wish I did.**

_**This chapter is totally random, so sorry in advance.**_

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'OH MY GOD – THEY KILLED KENNY!!!' Ross screamed dramatically pointing at Sarah, Cloud and Kenny Jenson during sword training about a month later.

The whole class looked round in shock at Sarah and Cloud who were leaning over Kenny's body.

'He's not dead,' Sarah said peering at him carefully,

Yeah,' Cloud agreed and nudged his lifeless hand with his foot, 'see – he moved!'

'Out of the way,' instructor Giovanni Keller growled as he stormed over and pushed Sarah roughly aside. She stumbled slightly as he knelt down beside the boy to check on him.

'CHINISE FLYING CHICKEN - ATTAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!' Kenny yelled as he leapt to his feet and sent Keller to the ground. Quite a few cadets smacked their hands to their mouths to hide their laughter.

'_Idiot Boy!_' he growled getting to his feet. He took hold of him and dragged him out of the room by his ear. The rest of the class waited till they were outside to burst out laughing.

'That was _brilliant!_' Cloud gasped as he struggled for air and Sarah grinned.

The two of them, Ross and Kenny had planned this joke to annoy Keller as he had come in to take their lesson for some reason and they were annoyed about it. Also it was the last sword training lesson before they took their tests and wanted it to be memorable.

'Oh ha ha, very funny,' came Zelner's voice and Sarah turned round to face him, 'you think your clever don't you'

As usual he was with his two cronies, who were just silent versions of him really, except slightly smaller and not as muscled.

'Of course I do,' she said simply and he sneered

'Careful,' he said walking forward, 'your little SOLDIER friends aren't here to protect you.'

'What makes you think I need them?' she laughed

'Yeah, your right; it wouldn't make any difference. After all they must be pretty pathetic if it takes three of them to satisfy you.'

Sarah rolled her eyes and sighed; she was really getting sick of this.

'Oh I get it now,' she taunted him, 'you're just jealous that you're not getting any bum-fun,'

To her delight he went bright red as others around them laughed.

'Watch it!' he growled at her.

'If I remember correctly, it's _you_ who needs to watch it. If you'd kindly remember back to the last time we trained, you'd remember I – what was the term – oh yes, kicked your ass!'

Zelner blanched and tried to act haughtily,

'Pfff, I went easy on you,'

'Prove it,' she said and raised her sword. The rest of the class quickly backed off to give them space as he mirrored her.

They circled each other calculatingly, walking round and round and round until,

'HYU!' Zelner brought his sword down in a quick and very powerful down strike and Sarah raised her sword in both hands to block it. She responded with a diagonal slash which he jumped out the way of and thrust his sword at her, but Sarah batted it away with her own blade. They then attacked at the same time with diagonal slashes and their swords locked in a momentary grapple.

'You've been practicing,' Sarah sneered, feeling how much power he had put behind his attacks,

'Hmph,' was his reply and they were both forced away from each other as they pushed on their swords simultaneously.

The class cheered as their sword flashed and clanged against each other and the attacks became more aggressive.

He slashed at her again and she quickly twirled away to avoid it, then took a swing at him but he managed to block it. He brought his sword down in another powerful down strike and Sarah could feel her knees buckle slightly from the pressure above her. She kicked him in the stomach and be stumbled backwards.

Zelner then struck out with a horizontal strike which she ducked, and then in a perfectly straight diagonal line she made as if she was going to stab him and had the tip of her sword pressing against his throat within a split second.

He froze as he felt the sharp metal scrape the sensitive skin on his neck, dropped his sword and put his hands up in defeat.

Everyone else stared in mute shock as the blade clattered to the ground and Sarah slowly drew away from the furious cadet. She could have done anything then; taunted him, ridiculed him, even laughed at him, but no – she simply sheathed her sword, and said,

'Good match,', then walked straight back over to Cloud without looking back.

'Awesome,' the blond said as she approached him

'Amazing,' Ross agreed.

Sarah beamed.

'And I even refrained from killing him,' she said proudly and they laughed.

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'Ahh, that was fun,' Sarah said stretching as they left the room.

'Yeah,' Cloud and Ross agreed and they walked on in a comfortable silence for a bit.

'So... who told you?' she asked after a while and they both groaned

'C'mon, it was a _month_ ago!' they complained but Sarah was too stubborn.

_**About a month ago**_

'I'M A TURK!' Sarah screamed and leapt round the corner at Ross and Cloud.

'What?' Ross asked calmly and Sarah frowned at his lack of surprise seeing as she had just jumped out of nowhere at him.

'We got told you were going to do that,' Cloud explained

'By who?'

'Not telling you,'

'Oh c'mon, please.'

'Nope,'

'Oh well,' she sighed slumping her shoulder, but then suddenly started jumping happily, 'I'm a Turk!'

'How come,' Ross asked

'Well seeing as I've finished the course in non-practical classes I've been given something else to do,'

'Cool...' Cloud said, 'I still don't know how you finished it in a month though,'

'I already knew most of it,' she replied waving her hand dismissively and turned so she could walk with them, 'anyways, I get to do stuff with the Turks,' she clapped her hands excitedly and the other two looked alarmed

'What?'

'I think that concussion made you go hyper,' Cloud said. Sarah rolled her eyes

'That was three days ago!'

'So, you're still hyper,' Ross saidand Sarah laughed.

'Okay, but who told you?'

'Not telling,'

'Please?'

'Nope'

'Please?'

'Nope'

'Please?'

'Stop asking,'

'_Never,'_

_**Present**_

'I told you I wouldn't stop asking,'

'Yeah but we never knew you were serious,' Cloud whined

'Well tell me and I'll stop asking' she smiled sweetly. The two boys rolled their eyes.

'Okay! It was Kenny,' Ross said finally cracking

'Really? Kenny? Huh... maybe I _should_ have killed him...'

The boys rolled their eyes.

'Oh well,' she said brightly, 'I'm off to see my _real_ friends' she joked and ran off to find the Turks.

Sarah had been working with the Turks in her spare time for about a month now, but it was pretty boring.

She rarely ever saw Reno, Rude, Cissnei or Tseng because she had been stuck with some others who had lost a lot of people in an accident and had been suspended from missions for a while.

All she really did was move things and help organise paperwork, but she guessed she didn't mind; it was better than sitting in class doing nothing.

Once on the Turks floor she ran into Cissnei.

'Oh, hey, there you are,' she said and grabbed Sarah's hand, 'you're with us today,'

'Really?' she asked as she was dragged along, 'cool'

'Hey, I found her!' Cissnei announced as she pulled Sarah into a cubicle where Reno and Rude were waiting

'Shorty!' Reno bounded towards her and smiled down at her

She raised her eyebrows

'Shorty?'

'Yeah, well... you're short,'

'_Really? Here _was me under the impression that I was the tallest person in the world!'

They laughed and Reno opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud '_RENO!'_

Sarah turned around and saw an angry looking Tseng coming towards them.

'Oh boy,' Sarah heard Reno mutter to her left as the leader of the Turks appeared in the entrance to his cubicle.

'Where were you this morning?' Tseng snapped, and Sarah jumped slightly; she had never seen him angry before and now she knew why Reno was so scared on that day about two months ago.

'E-er, I, er... hey, look who decided to come and visit us today! ' Reno exclaimed happily and dragged Sarah in front of him. Tseng frowned and Sarah panicked

'Hey, don't use me as your excuse,' she said and wriggled out of his grasp, 'accept your punishment!'

She ran and hid behind Cissnei, and she thought she saw Rude's lip twitch.

'Heh heh,'Reno laughed nervously then muttered something to the floor.

'I'm sorry, I didn't catch that,'

'I was er, I was... late,' the poor red-headed Turk muttered and she heard Cissnei groan sympathetically as Tseng rose to his full height. Even though Tseng was shorter than Reno it was still quite impressive and _very _scary.

'And _what _did I say about being late, especially today?'

'E-err...' he faltered under Tseng's glare

'My office, now!'

Sarah and the two remaining Turks watched pitifully as they left.

'For once I actually feel sorry for him,' Cissnei said.

'What's happening today?' Sarah asked coming out from behind her.

'Rufus is coming to inspect things,'

'I see... why?'

'Dunno. Just something Shinra does every year, and I think his the president wants him to get to know the company a bit better because he'll become vice president when he turns eighteen.'

'Really? When's that?'

'Errr...' Cissnei looked at Rude for support

'December 22nd' he said and Sarah raised her eyebrows

'Huh...' she said thoughtfully and Cissnei looked at her questioningly, 'me too.'

'You found out your birthday!?'

Sarah nodded.

'Cool!' Cissnei said, 'and it's on the same day as Rufus'.'

'Is it now...' came a voice and they all jumped when the saw none other than Rufus himself leaning in the doorway, smiling, 'you'll have to come out with us.'

Sarah stood to attention as she was used to doing with other members of authority but Rufus just waved his hand and said,

'Don't, I'm not vice president yet,'

Sarah blushed and relaxed slightly.

'What are you doing here, I thought cadets were supposed to be in class now,' he asked, but didn't seem to be accusing her.

'I got Turk-napped' she said and they laughed, 'I'm joking, my tutors for theory got sick of me and kicked me out.'

'Got sick of you?'

'I finished the course about a month ago, so I got put with the Turks during those periods.'

'I see... I'm offended that you couldn't remember my birthday, by the way,' he joked to Cissnei who smiled mischievously, 'well, I guess you won't have any trouble remembering now,' he winked at Sarah who blushed.

'Yeah, but that's because girls rule the world!' Cissnei laughed and Rufus resisted rolling his eyes

'I'd better find Tseng before I'm forced to admit it,' he snickered and turned to leave but before he did he turned to Sarah, 'you will be coming, won't you?'

'Erm...' Sarah really didn't know what to say,

'You should,' Cissnei said, 'It'll be fun!'

'Sure,' Sarah said. Rufus smiled then departed.

'Well that was weird, you only just met,' Cissnei said, 'hey! Maybe he heard about you having to go to the ball!' she laughed and Sarah gave her a sarcastic look.

Cissnei thought Rufus would ask her? But she wanted to go with Tseng...

She looked round Reno's office for a change of subject and to her surprise she spotted a guitar.

'Reno plays the guitar?' she wondered out loud.

'Yeah, and not very well,' Cissnei laughed remembering back to all the crappy twanging and howling that was meant to be music.

'Maybe he's just shy,' Rude smirked

'Do you play?' Cissnei asked and she nodded

'Yeah, they made me learn music but I never let on that I liked it or I probably would have been made to stop playing,' by 'they' she meant Wutai

'Here,' Cissnei said, picking the guitar up and handing it to Sarah,' play something.'

'As long as it is better than Reno's playing,' Rude said. Sarah smiled as she examined it and strummed a few chords.

'It's been _ages_ since I've played,' she muttered. Her strumming became a tune and she began singing softly to it

_Grew up in a small town  
and when the rain would fall down  
I'd just stare out my window  
Dreaming of what could be  
and if I'd end up happy  
I would pray  
Trying hard to reach out  
But when I tried to speak out  
felt like no-one could hear me  
wanted to belong here  
but something felt so wrong here  
so I'd pray  
I could breakaway_

_I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly  
I'll do what it takes 'till I touch the sky and,  
I'll make a wish, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway  
Out of the darkness and into the sun  
but I won't forget all the ones that I love  
I'll take a risk, take a chance, make a change  
And breakaway_

_Wanna feel the warm breeze  
sleep under a palm tree  
feel the rush of the ocean  
get onboard a fast train  
travel on a jet plane  
faraway  
and breakaway_

Sarah suddenly stopped playing when she noticed how big her audience of, previously two, had got.

'Err-'

She looked around at the large group of Turks, including Reno and Tseng, and also Rufus.

'Sorry?' she said hopefully, wanting to avoid trouble ignoring the fact that they were all smiling at her.

'Oh, c'mon, don't stop,' said a girl who she had never spoken to before

'Yeah, it makes a change hearing someone _good_ play,' said some guy, shooting Reno a cheeky grin.

She blushed at the attention, and also at realising what song she had just sung.

'Well, it fits me pretty well,' she thought to herself as she put the guitar down to show that she didn't want to play in front of a crowd of people. They groaned in disappointment.

'Oh, pleeeeeeaaaaasssse,' another person whined

'Go on, back to work,' Tseng called to them and they scarpered.

'Sorry,' Sarah said again as he, Rufus and a gloomy looking Reno approached.

'Hey, don't be yo!' he said brightening up as he spoke to her, 'that was brilliant!'

Sarah turned a deeper shade of red and looked down at her feet embarrassed.

'I didn't know you could play,' Tseng commented, and she just nodded.

'She learned before she came here,' Cissnei explained for her and thankfully no-one said anything or commented on her song choice.

She knew they had took note of what the lyrics said, and wished she hadn't appeared so emotional as to sing a song about her past.

'You are one heck of an idiot Sarah,' she told herself, 'you made a fool of yourself in front of Tseng'

'Well,' Tseng said and Sarah snapped out of her thoughts, 'you three are to escort Rufus into town, if you hadn't forgotten, Sarah you can go with them if you want,' he said briefly and Sarah nodded happily. She had been out once before with the Turks and had enjoyed it immensely, but had felt embarrassed when trying on dresses,

'Yeah,' Cissnei said, 'we can pick up our dresses today'

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They got back late in the evening, exhausted. They had been everywhere, so many places that Sarah couldn't even remember all of them.

She actually had quite a lot of fun talking to Rufus and he seemed to enjoy her company just as much as the Turk's. Reno had commented on this and decided that she was one of the strangest people he knew,

'How come?' Sarah asked

'Most people would be scared of talking to people like Tseng, Rufus and the General, but you seem okay with it,'

She thought about this for a minute,

'They haven't given me a reason to be frightened of them. I know that people fear and respect people like them but I don't fear them because they haven't hurt me.'

He raised his eyebrows

'I mean I'll be nervous but not scared like other cadets are with the General – they treat him like a god, you should really hear the way cloud talks about him.'

Reno laughed at this

'Yeah, I guess people are sacred of him 'cos he's so cold and scary!'

'Yeah, he's scary when he's angry or in battle,' she said thinking back, 'but I wouldn't say he's cold,'

Reno actually looked shocked at this

'Are you crazy!? Have you not met him before?' he asked incredulously

'When I talked to him he spoke to me almost like an equal, well, a very _small_ equal; he had to look down a lot, but that's because everyone here's so tall,' she complained smiling slightly

They reached the Turk's area after everyone else and Sarah went to put her stuff in her room.

She put everything away then noticed a small envelope on her pillow. She picked it up and opened it cautiously, and out came a card. Inside it read;

_Good luck for your exams tomorrow_

She smiled as she looked at the message. It was in a rather beautiful cursive script and very neatly done. She had a feeling she'd seen this writing before and checked the card and envelope for a name but there was none.

It definitely wasn't one of the Turks, Ross or Cloud, so perhaps it was from Genesis, after all they did talk quite a bit, and she knew he wanted her to get into SOLDIER. But for some reason the writing just didn't seem Gensisy enough.

Sighing she pushed it out of her mind and set the card on her desk where she could see it, and smiled as she lay down; that was her first ever card.

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'Cissnei?' Reno said approaching the Turk when they were the only tow left

'What?' she replied not looking up from her book

'Have you ever known the General to be not-so-cold with anyone apart for Hewely and Rhapsodos in SOLDIER?'

Cissnei looked up frowning, 'No I don't think so, why?'

'Sarah said he wasn't cold to her when they spoke, he treated her like a 'very small equal' she said'

Cissnei giggled at the comment about height.

'Maybe he has to be like that,' she suggested

'Yeah...' he said slowly

'Wait –' Cissnei said looking at his unconvinced expression, 'you think he likes her'

'It's a possibility,' he said defensively folding his arms

The female Turk rolled her eyes

'He's never _been _with anyone in his life, or wanted to, what makes you think he's changed now?'

Reno shrugged

'And besides,' she continued quickly glancing around her to check the were alone, 'if he does like Sarah he's kinda screwed, 'cos Sarah likes Tseng'

Reno's jaw dropped comically '_Shorty likes Tseng!?'_

'Wells she hasn't said it, but I could just tell from the first time I met her,'

Reno whistled.

'Does he know?'

'I don't think so; she's pretty good at hiding it. I think he put her shyness down as not being used to social contact when she first came here, and since then she hasn't let on when they talk.'

'Does he like her?'

'Don't know, the only time I can tell what he's feeling is when he's angry,' she laughed and Reno agreed.

'Hey, I've got an idea!' Reno said suddenly and Cissnei jumped

'What?'

'How about we try and get Tseng to ask Sarah to the ball?' he said excitedly

Cissnei considered this for a moment then smiled

'For once Reno, I like your idea,'

'So, how do we do it?'

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Angeal and Genesis were sitting in a room, reading.

'Have you found out what the president said about Sarah and the ball,' Angeal asked Genesis who looked up thoughtfully

'Well, she can go, but he hasn't chosen someone to take her yet.'

'Hmmm...'

'Maybe,' Genesis said slowly, 'we should try and convince Sephiroth to ask her to go with him,'

Angeal looked at him thoughtfully,

'Yes, but how would we go about doing that without him killing us – he still hasn't admitted to liking her'

They thought about this for a minute before Genesis sat up brightly and said, 'I have a plan!'

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_**Well, what do you think?**_

_**I'm not updating until I get at least on review!**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_

_**P.S. I'm back at school now so I won't be updating as often but I will continue with this so please be patient and I'll be as quick as I can!**_


	11. Chapter 11

'_That's _your plan?_' _ Angeal said staring disbelievingly at his friend, 'A two year old could have come up with that!'

'Hey!' Genesis said indignantly, 'It'll work, trust me!'

'No it won't it'll get us killed!'

'It will work!'

'Wont,'

'Will,'

Angeal growled in frustration, 'We can't just annoy him until he asks her; we've got to give a reason why he should!'

'Because he likes her; that's reason enough!'

'He won't admit that though, so it won't work,'

'Oh he'll admit it,' Genesis said slyly, 'just you wait and see my friend!'

'You're going to annoy him into admitting it, aren't you?' Angeal groaned rubbing his temple

'It'll work!'

'No, it won't!'

'Why not?'

'He'll kill us!'

'Fine then, I'll get Sarah to make him admit that he likes her seeing as he wouldn't want to do anything to her because he likes her!'

'Genesis, you're an idiot,' Angeal sighed, 'you want to get Sarah to make Sephiroth admit he likes her, when we are trying to set them up without her knowledge?'

'Err-'

'You see the flaw in that?' Angeal asked sarcastically

'Fine,' Genesis said recovering quickly, 'how about we kidnap Sephiroth and stick him in a cupboard so Sarah has to go and rescue him!'

'You do realise that Sephiroth could just smash the door open if we _did_ manage to kidnap him in the first place,'

'Fine then we'll stick Sarah in the cupboard!'

'Sarah could break out too!' Angeal groaned, 'you are an idiot!'

'Fine then we'll kidnap Sarah and-'

'_No kidnapping people!'_

'Come on this one's good!'

Angeal sighed, 'go on,'

'We kidnap Sarah and stick her in his office!'

'Why? She could just open the door'

'Errr- We'll stand outside and say they can't come out until they fall in love!'

'Sometimes I worry about you Genesis,' Angeal sighed, 'your first idea was the sanest and _that's _saying something!'

'Great, so we're doing that then!' Genesis exclaimed happily and before poor Angeal could say anything he was dragged away to Sephiroth's office.

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'Hmmm....' Cissnei said thoughtfully, 'I dunno,'

'We could, err...' Reno too was stuck

'...'

'...'

'...'

'We could always just kill all the other higher-ups so they have no choice,' Reno suggested

'We might have some explaining to do, but apart from that it's quite a good idea,' Cissnei said sarcastically

'Well you think of something then!'

'Um...'

'Not so easy is it!'

'Err...'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'...'

'I suppose we could just talk to Tseng...' Cissnei said

'And say what? An underage girl called Sarah has a crush on you, and Sephiroth has a crush on her, we don't know where you stand but were rooting for you man!'

Cissnei looked at him thoughtfully,

'You could just leave out the part about her being underage...'

'Oh boy...' Reno sighed

'But I was thinking more along the lines of making it seem she would be more comfortable going with him'

'Would that work?'

'Dunno, but if it does we're sorted. When Tseng sees her all dressed up he won't be able to resist!'

'She really looks that good?'

'Yup, I could swear that the guys in the shop started literally drooling when they saw her,'

'Ohh, man, maybe I should take her!'

'Shut up Reno!'

'You shut up!'

'You!'

'You!'

'You!'

'You!'

'You!'

'What's going on?' came Tseng's voice from behind them and they shut up immediately

'Nothing!' Reno said quickly and blushed uncharacteristically

'Reno your face is the same colour as your hair, something is going on and you are going to tell me,' he said forcefully

The two Turks quailed under his glare.

'We were just er- saying that, um,' Reno began unsurely, 'Sarah would um,' He took a really deep breath and said quickly, 'wouldbemorecomfortablegoingtotheballwithyou!'

He leapt up and ran for his room without another word leaving Cissnei to deal with Tseng.

'What did he just say?' Tseng asked frowning and Cissnei didn't know whether he really knew or not.

'I have no idea sir,' she said carefully getting to her feet, then without warning, she too dashed off shouting a quick 'night sir!' over her shoulder.

Tseng frowned after them – what did he say?

He shook his head; he'd ask them about it in the morning.

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Sarah went downstairs early the next morning to find it empty apart from Tseng. Her heart skipped a little when he looked up at her

'Good morning,' he said

'M-morning,' she stammered and he frowned slightly at her

'Are you well?' he asked her

'U-um yeah, I guess' in truth she had barely slept the night before through nerves, 'I've just got my exams today,'

He studied her pale complexion carefully, still frowning. Sarah shivered slightly under his gaze and he looked worried as she sat down opposite him.

'Perhaps you should get some more sleep,' he said but she shook her head

'Can't sleep,' she muttered

He continued to watch her become more uncomfortable not knowing he was the main cause of it.

'Maybe you should go to the infirmary,' he suggested

'I'm fine,' she insisted, not meeting his eyes, 'it's just nerves,'

'Oh Gaia, please stop staring at me or kiss me!' she found herself thinking, 'preferably the second one!'

She suddenly blushed and tried to pass it off as a coughing fit, but unluckily, this just got him more worried, and he came over to check her temperature.

She jumped violently as he put his hand to her head and he knelt down in front of her.

She was actually beginning to feel dizzy being in this close proximity with him

'God dammit!' she thought, trying to ignore how sexy his hands were, 'why didn't I just go and get breakfast from the mess hall?'

It was all she could do to stop herself from squeaking when he took her wrist to check her pulse and their hands brushed against each other.

She could swear her heart stopped when he cradled her face in his hand so he could look into her eyes. She felt so nervous she could vomit, or faint, or both.

Neither of them noticed Reno, Cissnei and Rude walked into the room.

'Er-'Cissnei stopped short at the sight of them and Sarah jumped again

'Are we interrupting something?' Reno smirked and Tseng scowled at him. Sarah just wanted the world to open up and swallow her.

Tseng ignored the other Turks and turned back to Sarah

'You have a temperature and your heart rate is high, I think you should go to the infirmary' he said evenly as he stood up

She desperately wanted to scream 'IT'S BECAUSE OF YOU, YOU BLOODY OVERLY SEXY TURK!' but she thought better of it.

Reno and Cissnei went round to inspect her and immediately knew what was wrong.

'I'm fine,' she insisted also getting up, 'I'm just going to go and get some breakfast'

She quickly left before they could stop her.

'Oh Gaia...' she thought as she walked briskly down the hall, 'he could have just kissed me to make me feel better...'

The other four watched her go.

Tseng frowned after her.

'Is there something wrong with her?' he asked Reno Cissnei and Rude, 'did she seem okay yesterday?'

Reno scratched his head awkwardly and Cissnei tried her best not to smile,

'She was fine yesterday,' Reno said

'Yeah,' Cissnei agreed, 'she's probably just nervous about her exams today,'

'That's what she said,' Tseng sighed, obviously not convinced, 'are you sure there isn't anything?'

Reno and Cissnei glanced at each other

'Erm...'Reno said

'Well,' Cissnei said slowly and exchanged another glance with Reno, 'she was saying just yesterday about the ball and everything...'

'Yeah,' Reno said quickly cottoning on, 'she was saying she was nervous about her results being announced publically...'

'So there's kinda a lot of pressure for her to do really well,'

'And then at the ball we think she may need someone there who knows her quite well'

'Yeah, because we don't think she'll want someone she barely knows there with her to support her'

'So?' Tseng asked not catching on

'Well we already know that she has to go with a higher up,' Cissnei said

'And the higher up who knows her best is... well...'

'You,' Cissnei finshed for him and Tseng raised an eyebrow

'Of course it would be nothing romantic' Cissnei quickly added

'Yeah, it's just she does know you best and it's not like you absolutely despise her or anything,' Reno added

'So would you er... think about it?' Cissnei asked hopefully

Tseng's gaze flitted between the two of them.

'It would be highly unorthodox...'

'But she's not far off sixteen,' Reno quickly put in

'And like we said it wouldn't be anything romantic,' Cissnei said

'Unless you want it to be,' Reno said slyly and Cissnei kicked him

'So, er... will you?'

Tseng thought about this for a moment then sighed

'If the president doesn't decide on anyone then I will consider asking her,'

'Excellent!' Cissnei smiled

'Only don't tell her we said this,' Reno said quickly, 'or we might end up with our heads on a stake'

Tseng raised his eyebrows again

'The idea of your head on a stake is actually an appealing one Reno' he smirked and then left the room.

'_Yes!_' Cissnei and Reno hi-fived

'I can't believe he bought it!' she said gleefully

'Yeah, now all we have to do is make Sarah worried about the ball,'

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Angeal looked wearily up at his friend

'You haven't given up on this plan yet?' he asked

'No!' Genesis exclaimed, 'why would I when there is so much love in the air?'

Angeal resisted whacking his head off the wall

'You're going to go see him now?'

'Well he was busy last night!' Genesis pouted childishly and his friend rolled his eyes

'It won't work!'

'It _will_! Now come on!' once again Genesis dragged his poor friend away to Sephiroth's office.

'It won't work,' Angeal reiterated once they reached the office

'It will,' Genesis insisted as they knocked on the door and entered.

Sephiroth looked up from his desk as they entered

'Good morning friend!' Genesis said jovially as he bounded in with a resigned looking Angeal behind him

'Good morning' he replied, really not fazed by his strange behaviour; after all this was Genesis he was talking about

'Cadet Exams today!' the redhead said cheerfully taking a seat in front of the desk

Sephiroth looked up warily, wondering what was coming next

'I wonder how cute little Sarah is going to do,'

Sephiroth only just managed to refrain from groaning; Genesis had never let him live that down...

He said nothing. In truth he was slightly apprehensive for her; not because he thought she couldn't do it, but because... well he didn't know why.

If Genesis knew he was concerned he would have used this as more evidence as to him liking her, but he didn't... right?

He just found himself thinking about her when his mind wandered because she was important to Shinra... right?

And that feeling of wanting to kill his best friends and 'the puppy' for touching her that day, that was because... well, what was that because?

And he sent her that good luck card because... because she needed it? No, she didn't, she would do fine. Because it would make her smile and he liked it when she smiled? No, surely not, it was because... because... it would be a nice thing to do. But then again, why did he care?

'Personally I think she's going to do just fine,' Genesis said, 'what do you think Angeal?'

'Huh? Oh yeah, she'll do great,' he said

'Why don't you tell _her_ that then?' Sephiroth said. He didn't really like talking about her – it made him feel funny, almost ill.

'Oh, we will,' Genesis said lightly, 'I heard Sarah has to go to the ball by the way,'

Sephiroth pretended not to be interested and continued with his paperwork

When his friend didn't say anything Genesis continued

'I wonder who she'll go with.'

Still Sephiroth said nothing

'After all it is about making the company look good and SOLDIER not sexist...'

Sephiroth sighed and looked up

'If you are trying to insinuate that I should take her then don't'

'Why not?' Genesis grinned, 'it would be a perfect opportunity for the two of you to get cosy,'

'Because, as I have told you a thousand times, I do not like her in that way,' he carried on with his paper work and continued, 'If the President requests that I take her then I will, but if he doesn't then I won't, end of story,'

'Oh, come on Sephiroth,' Angeal said, 'we know you like her,'

'For the last time, _I do not_,' he said sternly

'Yes you do,' Genesis said simply

Sephiroth growled angrily and they knew they were in trouble

'If you are so sure, prove it,' he said angrily

'Oh, another one of these, eh?' Angeal smirked, trying not to be scared of his annoyed friend

'Yes,' Genesis said slowly, then grinned, 'but let's make it more interesting,'

The other two looked at him apprehensively – what could he possibly come up with now?

'We know you like her,' he said and Sephiroth opened up his mouth to say something but Genesis held up his hand to silence him, 'but you just won't admit it, so, instead of listing reasons why you do to try and make you admit it... actually, no. If you say you don't like her, then you don't'

Angeal and Sephiroth stared at Genesis in amazement

'A new chapter in history,' Angeal gaped, 'Genesis has given up!'

Sephiroth was slightly suspicious – Genesis had never given up on anything before, why now?

'Oh well,' Genesis sighed, standing up, 'come on Angeal, he obviously doesn't like her if he hasn't admitted it yet, after all, he wouldn't lie would he?'

Sephiroth watched as a gobsmacked Angeal followed the redhead out of his office.

What in the name of Gaia was all that about?

'You've really given up?' Angeal asked sceptically as they walked away

'Of course not,' Genesis replied, 'I'm just going to make him admit it another way,'

'What happened to annoying him until he admits it?'

'Oh, that still applies...'

'I'm not even going to ask,'

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'Help, help, help, help,' Sarah muttered as she walked back and forth outside the examination room,

'Relax Sarah,' Cloud said, 'you'll do fine; you wiped the slate clean with the course,'

'Yeah, if anyone should be worried it's us,' Ross agreed. He looked slightly pale but it was nothing compared to how Sarah looked; her skin was almost paper white and they could swear her lips were starting to go blue.

'Ah, there she is,' the sound of Genesis' voice was carried to her and she spun around

'H-hey,' she said as Genesis grinned down at her with Angeal and Zack behind him

'Hi,' Zack bounded forward and Angeal nodded to her

'You got your theory exam now, haven't you,' Zack asked, and she nodded, 'you nervous?'

'Little bit,' she said in a very small voice

'Awww,' Genesis cooed, and her lips twitched at how ridiculous he sounded ''little Sarah's scared,'

Sarah laughed a little but then stiffened as he pulled her into a hug

'E-er-'

'My little Sarah,' he said in a childish possessive voice, 'I won't let nasty exam papers scare her!'

She couldn't help it and burst out laughing whilst he hugged her.

'Genesis, stop fraternising with the cadets!' Sarah jumped as she heard the General's voice and made to move away from the redhead but he still held her tightly.

'But she's _my_ cadet!' he whined, 'I want to keep her!'

Sarah laughed even harder and clung to his coat

'_Genesis!_'

'Alright, alright,' he sighed and let go of the poor, embarrassed girl

She stepped away and shakily stood to attention like the other cadets as the General passed into the hall; he would be supervising the exam.

'Good luck,' Genesis grinned and pulled her into another, quick hug,

'Er, thanks,' she said a bit awkward at all the sudden hugging

'Good luck,' Zack and Angeal also said before departing, though thankfully they didn't try to hug her.

She turned back to Cloud and Ross who both looked scared and were trying not to laugh at her.

'Since when did you and Mr Stare-a-lot become best friends?' Ross smirked

'You look very close,' Cloud commented through his snickers

At that moment they were called into the hall to begin the exam and Sarah didn't notice two redheaded Turks standing there, gobsmacked at what they had seen.

'Genesis likes her too?' Reno said to Cissnei looking dumbfounded

'That girl is on a roll!'

'Damn!' Reno muttered appreciatively

'Unless...' Cissnei said thoughtfully, 'the General was only being kind because Genesis likes her...'

'That's it,' Reno said, 'has to be!'

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'Oh boy,' Cloud said as they came out the exam two hours later, 'that was hard!'

'Tell me about it,' Ross complained rubbing his temples, 'I don't think I've ever thought so much at once in my whole entire life!'

'I never want to find out my results...' Sarah said and the other two looked at her incredulously

'Why not?'

'Because I know I'll have done badly,'

'Yeah right,' Cloud said, 'just you wait, we'll come back with fails and you'll have 100%'

'I won't, believe me,' Sarah laughed hollowly

'Bet you do,' Ross said slightly enviously

Sarah just shook her head; everyone just presumed she was so clever, it would be a real shock for them and her if she got a fail.

'Come on,' she said, 'let's go get some lunch. We've got the practical at two haven't we?'

'Yeah,'

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'That's your new plan!?' Angeal asked disbelievingly as soon as he and Genesis were alone, 'Are you insane?'

'Maybe,' he said slyly, 'but all the same it will work,'

'Yeah but it'll also get you killed,'

'No it won't, he knows I don't really mean it,'

'But what if she gets feelings for you, how are you gonna explain that one, eh?'

Genesis didn't answer.

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'What was all that about?' Sephiroth thought angrily as he sat in his office after the exam, 'as soon as Genesis admits that I don't like Sarah, he's all over her... I could kill him right now...'

He wrote so ferociously that he tore the paper. He frowned at it for a minute.

'Dammit...' he said to himself, 'I do like her, what am I doing? I can't let Genesis have her. Why didn't I just get over my foolish pride and admit it? But this is crazy! I can't like her; she isn't even sixteen yet!'

'Although,' said a sly little voice in the back of his mind, 'you wouldn't think it – she is a very mature girl.'

'And a beautiful one too...'

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_**Okay, don't judge me I'm only Human! This chapters a bit rubbish so I'm sorry!**_

_**I'm not updating until I get at least one review for this so please R&R!**_

_**Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it,**_

_**Until next time,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_


	12. Chapter 12

'Lord, have mercy on me,' Sarah muttered as she entered the examination hall for her practical test.

Each of the cadets would be tested individually. In the room there would be whoever was examining you and the General, who had to supervise these kinds of things.

She looked around as she walked in, and to her horror saw instructor Giovanni Keller standing there – he was to examine her!?

'Damn,' she thought, 'now I'm screwed!'

She then glanced to her left and caught sight of the General leaning casually against the wall, clipboard in hand – Keller wouldn't try anything with him here, would he?

Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before she looked away, but it was still enough to send a shiver down her spine.

She didn't have time to reflect on this however as Keller stepped forward and spoke emotionlessly as if reciting from memory to a brick wall,

'There will be three stages to this examination; firstly you will be tested for reaction times, the simulation will start and you have to hit as many targets as you can. Secondly you will be tested against a variety of fiends and you will be graded on how quickly and efficiently you kill them. Finally you will spar with me so we can assess your fighting technique,'

Sarah really didn't like the look in his eye when he said that – she really wished they hadn't pulled that prank now...

'Now if you're ready, we'll start,'

She nodded and took out her sword apprehensively.

'Why didn't I take my exams next year again...' she thought as the simulation began.

The targets were different coloured flying balls, about the size of tennis balls, that flew at her from different sides.

Sephiroth watched her. She looked quite unsure to begin with and missed a few of the flying targets, but she soon got into the swing of it and was doing fine.

He felt a bit sorry for her – he knew she hated instructor Keller, but then again, she had to face up to him someday, and if she did really well today then she could walk away triumphant over him.

He jotted down some notes on her performance as the simulation changed. All the fiends on the simulation were quite weak, so he knew she would have no trouble with them, it was her sparring with Keller that made him slightly apprehensive; he was worried that the instructors dislike for her might make him do something stupid.

As he'd predicted Sarah completed that stage with almost no problem at all. So far she was doing the best out of all the cadets.

He made notes again then quickly looked up as they faced each other, not liking the look in the man's eye.

Sarah looked fine; her face was emotionless and her stance was good. So far she was in control of herself, but when they start fighting?

Unsurprisingly, Keller was the first to attack and she blocked it with ease and retaliated quickly.

The General was almost satisfied with the look of shock that passed over Keller's face as he realised the girls' strength; obviously he had expected her to be a pushover.

It was easy to see that Sarah was a lot quicker than the other cadets, and her technique was put to good use. Of course, it wasn't perfect, but it was much more than what was expected of someone at her level.

They continued fighting for several minutes.

Normally by now the cadet would have been beaten, but for the two fighting the end was nowhere in sight. In fact it looked like they were just warming up!

Sarah was making up for her lack of height with speed, and also using it to her advantage to duck and deliver low attacks. Over all Sephiroth was impressed with her performance.

But then he suddenly frowned

'What is that girl doing?' he muttered. Up until now it had been Keller who had been increasing the pace to see if Sarah could keep up with him, as he had to in the exam, but now it was Sarah who was increasing the pace to see if Keller could keep up with her!

'She going to get herself killed if she carries on like this...'

He watched as they swung furiously at each other then quickly decided to stop them as he saw sparks fly from their swords,

'That's enough!' he said calmly and they stopped abruptly as if he had shouted. They glared daggers at each other as the General walked over and they glanced at him.

Sarah looked down at the floor, suddenly feeling ashamed – why had she let herself get so angry like that? She should have been thankful that Keller had raised the difficulty slowly and not tried to kill her straight off.

Sephiroth turned to Keller, 'That's everyone done now; I'd like a word with her though, if you don't mind,'

Keller nodded and left the room without a word. Sarah kept her eyes averted to the floor.

The General watched the instructor go and then turned to the girl. He watched her for a moment; her cheeks were red from the exercise and she wasn't looking at him. She looked slightly ashamed.

He almost couldn't believe he had feelings for this girl. It wasn't that she was ugly; in fact he had heard a lot of people comment on her beauty. They said how unbelievable that a girl with such gentle features could be so strong, they saw it as a good thing though – it didn't mar her in any way.

He couldn't believe it because she had come into his life so unexpectedly. One day the Turks had just brought her in off the streets and announced she was the escapee from Wutai (how Tseng had known it was her he would never know) and then she had revealed that she could be a great source of information for the company.

She was meant to be just an asset to Shinra and another fighter – she was supposed to be just another cadet, and nothing to him.

She looked up nervously at him as he approached her and he had the sudden desire to pin her to the wall and kiss her senseless, but then quickly scolded himself for even thinking it.

'Sorry,' Sarah said in a small weak voice.

'That was a foolish thing to do; you could have got seriously hurt,' he said sternly. Sarah said nothing and returned her gaze to the floor.

'You need to keep your emotions in check if you don't want to end up with people injured, be it yourself or others, do you understand?'

She nodded to the floor and he resisted the urge to bring her face up and make her look at him.

She wasn't like other cadets who thought of him as a god, she treated him with respect as a normal person.

'I guess that's one of the things I like about her,' he thought

'Very well,' he said, 'you are dismissed,'

Sarah nodded again and saluted without looking at him, but their eyes met briefly before she walked out of the room.

'This is ridiculous...' he sighed then he too left

'I wonder what I should do now,' Sarah thought as she left the room and walked down the corridor, 'to be honest I really don't feel like going to the gym today, and I've got no revising or anything to do...'

She walked around the corner and looked up as she heard Genesis' voice come from inside a room to her left

'...ripples form on the water's surface and the wandering soul knows no rest,'

Sarah saw the man in red reading from a book as he paced the empty room. He looked up and saw her watching him

'What's that?' she asked nodding at the book and walking forward to stand in the doorway

'Loveless,' he replied as if stating the obvious

'What's it about?'

'You don't know?' he asked incredulously

'Err...'

But the his face broke into a grin

'Want to hear some more? You can stay if you like,' he said. Sarah looked at the eager glint in his eye and chucked slightly.

'Sure,' she said walking into the room and sitting on the floor as Genesis resumed pacing and began to read to her,

_**That night**_

'Hi,' Sarah said in her usual manner as she walked into the General's private quarters, past Sephiroth himself.

He grinned slightly behind her back; she didn't know the reason why he had called her here tonight

She turned around to face him as he closed the door and walked over to her. Before she knew it he had pushed her backwards onto the sofa and was on top of her, kissing her passionately.

She let out a small squeak as he continued the assault on her mouth, but then unsurely snaked one hand through his surprisingly soft, silky hair, whilst the other ran sensually over his chest and under his coat.

She moaned slightly as she granted his tongue access to her mouth and his hands explored her body.

Already she could feel his desire pressing up against her and he growled as she ground her hips against his teasingly.

She reached for his hands and managed to pull his gloves off one at a time so he could run his bare hands over her heated flesh.

Next she fumbled with the buckle on his coat and slid it off him, running her hands over his muscled arms as she did so.

Deciding she had too much on he pulled back from the panting girl beneath him and began to peel her top away-

'_Damn!'_ Sephiroth muttered as he opened his eyes and whacked his alarm to shut it up.

He ran a hand over his face then looked down

'Not again...'

For the third night in a row he had woken up with a tent forming in his sheets because of those blasted dreams. He hated them – he wanted the real thing, the real girl, not just an image in his sleep.

Sighing angrily he got up to take a _very_ cold shower.

He really needed to get that girl out of his head!

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_**Sorry about how short this chapter is - I promise the next one will be longer!**_

_**Please Review and thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94  
**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Sorry I haven't updated in so long but I'm in the middle of taking my GCSE's and I've got a mountain of revision to do. I hope you like the chapter –enjoy!**_

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Sarah was sitting in a seat in the hallway just along the corridor from the conference room, waiting. Her insides were squirming; she was waiting for Genesis to come and tell her who would be taking her to the ball. It was in two night's time and she had been getting worried that no-one would take her, so the SOLDIER in red had gone to ask.

She sat with her hands in her lap, twiddling her thumbs and chewing on her lower lip. She really didn't know who she wanted to take her.

On one hand, she had the ever growing infatuation for Tseng and would kill to go with him, but on the other hand she had found her mind slipping towards the General during her free hours.

Sometimes when she was with Genesis and Angeal he would join in their conversations and quite often she thought she could feel his eyes on her, even when the others were speaking. The thought of this sent shivers down her spine.

And when they talked he would give her the strangest look, one that would give her butterflies in her stomach and make her heart race and legs turn to jelly.

She really didn't know what to make of this. Perhaps he was still intrigued by her? Maybe he was wandering whether she would still be here when she found out the results of her tests.

One thing she did know for sure was that no other cadets had spoken to him as personally as she had. But then again no other cadets really associated with first class SOLDIERS, who were close friends of the General for that matter.

A third thing that had confused her in the past few weeks was Genesis. Lately he had seemed to enjoy hugging her, especially in the Generals presence, and seemed to demand her company a lot more than usual; recently he came to train with her whenever she was in the gym. She didn't mind this, in fact she really enjoyed his company, perhaps a bit too much.

Sephiroth had been wary about this to begin with and had told them so, but after no-one seemed to get hurt he didn't make such a fuss. Although he did seem to think it was inappropriate in the way that Genesis casually flirted with her. He never said anything but she could see a disapproving and almost angry look lurking behind his brilliant green eyes.

Sarah sighed and ran a hand through her loose hair. Why did things have to be so complicated?

And as for Tseng again she didn't know what to think. It seemed that the Turks, Reno and Cissnei in particular, had been trying to get them to talk together more often, and even hinting when both were around, that they would be great together at the ball.

Every time they said something like this Sarah would blush and try to cover it up with a laugh, whilst secretly hoping that he would ask her. Why couldn't he just feel the same way as her? If he did then he was darn good at hiding it!

She looked up quickly as she heard voices coming down the hall from the conference room, and saw Genesis and Angeal conversing in low voices as they walked towards her. Both were frowning slightly but she couldn't hear what they were saying.

'Well?' Sarah asked nervously as they reached her

The other two glanced at each other quickly before Genesis spoke,

'They've decided on someone,' he said carefully and Sarah's stomach lurched in anticipation

'And?' she asked hardly daring to breathe

'It's...'

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'Oh god...' Sarah thought as she examined herself in the mirror. She was wearing her dress for the ball and had just come out of the bathroom to see what she looked like.

'Wow...' Cissnei breathed as she turned her round to take a proper look at her, 'and I though it looked great in the shop...'

'It's okay then?'

'It's more than okay, it's... it's...' she struggled to find the words, 'I tell you, he's going to drool when he sees you!'

Sarah giggled at the thought of her date for the evening drooling.

She looked back at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a deep red, satin dress that highlighted her breasts and clung to her curves nicely. Her hair was curled and tied up, and she had the slightest bit of make-up on. She wore red high heels that she had been practicing walking and dancing in.

There was a knock at the door.

'Who is it?' Cissnei called

'Cloud' came the cadet's voice from the other side of the door

Cissnei frowned but Sarah called for him to enter. The door swung open and the blond spiky haired cadet walked in.

'Hey Sarah, I just wa-'he stopped in midsentence and his jaw dropped wide open at the sight of her.

She giggled and blushed as his eyes roved over her dress and body.

'Y-you look,' he stammered but also couldn't seem to find any words

'See, I told you,' Cissnei said happily as she looked at the cadet appreciatively, 'even he's practically drooling!'

'You look like – like some sort of Goddess – but better!' he exclaimed

Sarah felt really embarrassed and said nothing. Cloud continued to stare.

'We'd better get going,' Cissnei said standing up. She was wearing aback tight fitting dress and had also tied her hair up.

'Yeah,' Sarah said feeling her insides squirm

'So are you gonna tell me who's taking you are do I still have to wait and see?' the Turk asked her

'Hmm... Wait and see I think,' Sarah smiled as they exited the room past a still staring Cloud.

'You know if that guy doesn't close his mouth he's going to end up swallowing a fly or something,' Cissnei said glancing over her shoulder at the blond cadet and Sarah laughed.

They walked down the hall and Sarah paused at the top of the stairs.

'What's wrong?' Cissnei asked turning back to look at her form half way down the stairs.

'Just nervous,' she breathed, then as steadily as her shaking legs would carry her she followed the red haired Turk into the room where her date was awaiting her.

He turned around as they entered and his lips parted slightly as he took in the sight of her all dressed up.

'My God...' he murmured as he walked forward, 'you look – amazing!'

Sarah blushed and giggled slightly as he offered her his arm. She took it and he led her away.

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It was proving to be a busy party tonight, Sephiroth mused as he looked around the hall of couples. As was tradition for him he had chose to come without a partner – or at least chose to come without a partner because he hadn't been requested to take Sarah.

It was probably for the best though; if he had taken her he would have ended up ravishing her by the end of the night.

He looked around as a round of applause and a murmur of appreciation ran though the hall accompanied by several gasps.

As was usual, the president and Rufus came in 'fashionably late' with their dates after being photographed by the media outside.

On the arm of the president was a rather attractive blond woman who he didn't know but when he looked to the younger Shinra it was all he could do to stop his jaw from dropping.

On the arm of Rufus Shinra was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, who was smiling and blushing from the attention she was getting – it was Sarah.

He felt his heart pound in his chest.

'Damn!' he thought as he watched her, 'how can someone affect me like this?'

Thankfully a couple of distractions arrived in the form of Angeal and Genesis.

'There you are,' Angeal said as he approached, 'we didn't see you'

'Wow,' Genesis muttered looking over at Sarah in appreciation, 'she looks amazing!'

Angeal followed his gaze and when he spotted the girl his eyebrows raised and he looked speechless. Sephiroth chuckled; it was rare to see such a reaction from his dark haired friend, not to say highly amusing.

Just then the President stood up on the podium for his speech. They could see Sarah and Rufus standing just to the left and slightly behind him. Sarah was blushing and looking round the hall nervously whilst Rufus kept an arm round her waist.

She looked over the sea of elegantly dressed people and quickly spotted Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal. They caught her eye and nodded slightly as she smiled at them. She held Sephiroth's gaze slightly longer than the other two and blushed a shade deeper as he returned the gaze.

She looked to her right and saw Tseng standing on the right of the President as stoic as ever. He didn't look at her; he was too busy watching the crowd as he had to do.

Sarah looked back out over the crowd, not really listening to the President's speech. This was turning out to be a very interesting night already – she really hadn't expected to have her photograph taken by the media, and she hadn't expected to receive so many compliments on her appearance.

On the way here nearly everyone who had passed had said how lovely she looked. All Sarah could do was blush and stammer a quiet thank you.

Rufus seemed to think her embarrassment was quite amusing and kept chuckling and saying 'you'd better get used to it'.

She jumped slightly when the white-clad man next to her leaned in and whispered in her ear 'you might want to start listening now'

She smiled apologetically and blushed again.

'And stop blushing,' he added with a chuckle, but this only made her blush more.

She averted her eyes towards the President and listened to what he was saying.

'And now for a rather special announcement,' he addressed the crowd and turned slightly towards Sarah, 'this year we had our first ever female cadet take the test to join SOLDIER,'

All eyes turned towards Sarah briefly before snapping back to the President as he continued,

'She has proved to be an exceptional asset to Shinra, and we wish her all the best of luck for her results, which we will be announcing in just a moment,'

Sarah felt her knees shake slightly with nerves as she looked out at the crowd. Some of them had their eyes on the President as he spoke, but most were on her. Their stares were inquisitive, but not badly so; all faces had a small smile on them, and none of sarcasm.

'But before I do,' Shinra continued, 'I would just like to say what an honour it has been to have Sarah with us. She has shown courage and determination above what any of us expected, and it with our best wishes that we announce the results now,'

Sarah's stomach clenched as Tseng handed Shinra an envelope. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before he went back into position.

She looked over the crowd and saw Cissnei and Reno standing together then did a double take.

What? They had come together? Since when?

They smiled at her and Reno gave her the thumbs up. She returned the smile then quickly moved her gaze on.

Her eyes landed on the three SOLDIERs who also smiled at her. Her stomach twisted into a knot. Somehow the sight of the General smiling at her – it was reminiscent of when she first got to know Tseng.

Sarah waited with baited as the whole hall of people watched President Shinra open the envelope and quickly read through it.

'Oh Gaia...' Sarah muttered and she felt Rufus give her hand a quick squeeze as the president spoke

'And the results...'

It seemed everyone in the room had held their breath in anticipation

'Sarah has passed with an outstanding score of 95%!'

The whole room burst into applause and Sarah buried her face in Rufus' chest as he hugged her.

'Congratulations!' Rufus said

She could hear Reno and Cissnei cheering as she felt tear of joy well up in her eyes – it was overwhelming; she had got into SOLDIER, she was the first girl ever to make it!

She took a deep steadying breath and shakily turned round to look at the hall full of people smiling at her. Sarah laughed as she saw Cissnei restraining Reno from jumping up and down, and then she looked over at the three SOLDIERS who were also clapping but in a more dignified manner and then she glanced at Tseng who again was clapping with a small smile on his face. He gave her a slight nod as their eyes met.

She beamed as Shinra shook her hand and she once again had her photograph taken.

'Well if your legs will support you would you like to dance,' Rufus asked her once the ball started,

Sarah laughed

'I'd love to,' she said and he led her on to the floor and they begun dancing to a slow tune.

'You look beautiful tonight you know,' Rufus said as they danced.

'Thanks,' Sarah said blushing and Rufus smiled.

Sarah couldn't help but keep a huge smile on her face all the time they were dancing and Rufus laughed about it.

They danced a few more dances together before walking to the edge of the dance floor where they ran into Reno and Cissnei, and ended up switching partners.

Rufus and Cissnei went to dance and Reno led Sarah onto the floor.

'Congrats Shorty,' Reno said as they went to dance,

Sarah laughed and whacked him playfully on the arm,

'Thanks but stop calling me that,'

'But its true' he laughed

Fine then, but from now on you'll be... Reddy'

They laughed and continued dancing. Sarah was actually surprised that Reno could dance so well and ended up having a lot of fun with him. She was almost disappointed when the song ended but then ecstatic when Tseng asked her for a dance.

He led her onto the floor and Cissnei and Reno watched them go.

'How long before she faints do you think?' Reno asked smiling

'Hmm... 2 minutes,' Cissnei said

'Nah, I don't think she'll last that long' Reno laughed, 'her knees look weak already!'

Cissnei giggled as they watched them.

'You look beautiful tonight,' Tseng murmured as they danced.

No matter how many times she heard it, it still made her blush, and to hear it coming from Tseng was enough to make her go light headed.

'Thank you,' she muttered.

She suddenly giggled slightly and Tseng raised an eyebrow at her,

'Sorry,' she said quietly, 'I haven't been able to stop smiling all night'

Tseng gave a deep chuckle which sent a small shiver down her spine

'I'd noticed,'

Sarah blushed.

It was a very slow song to which they were dancing and without realising they had moved incredibly close to each other.

'You know what,' Reno said to Cissnei

'What?'

'I think it's working,' he said as he watched Sarah and Tseng

'What is?' Cissnei asked

'Our plan,'

Cissnei followed his gaze and smiled at the couple dancing so close to each other.

'Told you he wouldn't be able to resist her,' she giggled

'Wonder if he'll say anything to her...'

Sarah was quite surprised she was still breathing standing this close to Tseng. She was shaking because she was so nervous and felt as though all oxygen had been sucked out of the air.

Slowly she raised her eyes to Tseng's to find him gazing at her intently and suddenly found she couldn't breathe. It was as if time had stood still. Slowly Tseng closed the gap between them and gently kissed her.

She felt as though a crate of fireworks had gone off in her stomach and her eyes fluttered closed.

Cissnei suddenly gasped sharply and Reno looked round.

'What!?'

'Look!' She pointed towards Tseng and Sarah.

Reno's jaw dropped comically,

Genesis who was standing a few feet away also heard the gasp and followed the Turks gaze. His jaw also dropped but he tried to recover quickly so his two friends wouldn't notice.

Unfortunately they did notice and Angeal and Sephiroth turned to see what he was looking at. Angeal's eyebrows were raised and Sephiroth's expression had become unreadable.

Sarah swore her heart had stopped beating as Tseng kissed her, but then suddenly, he quickly pulled away looking slightly alarmed. Sarah looked confusedly at him.

'My apologies,' he said and before she could say or do anything he hurried away.

'Wha-'Sarah found herself saying to no-one at all.

Reno and Cissnei frowned at each other then turned back to look at Sarah who looked as though she had tears welling in her eyes. They quickly went over to her and walked her back to the edge of the hall.

Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth watched this in silence.

Sephiroth's expression was still unreadable but his anger was boiling beneath the surface. Angeal was frowning and Genesis was openly angry,

'That bastard!' he growled, looking after the Turk, 'what did he go and do that for?'

'I'll kill him...' Sephiroth thought angrily.

_**Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**_

_**Ta-Da!!!!!!!**_

_**Well, what do you think? Hope you liked it!**_

_**I'll try and update quicker this time, but in the meantime I'd love a review!**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94.**_


	14. Chapter 14

**_I'm sorry it took me so long to update but my school is making me do my AS levels 2 years early - they're crazy!!! Anyway, here we go!_**

**Chapter 14**

'Sarah?' Cissnei looked cautiously at the girl standing in front of her with tears swelling in her eyes.

Brown eyes were reluctantly raised to meet hers. She could see the pain in them.

'It's nothing,' Sarah said in a barely audible voice and tried to blink her tears away, 'it doesn't matter'

Cissnei pulled her into a hug and Reno was frowning angrily.

'Why'd he go and run off like that?' he growled.

Sarah merely shrugged as Cissnei released her and took a deep calming breath.

'You'd have to ask him,' she said blandly

'Don't worry, I will,' he said angrily and turned and stormed off.

'Reno!' Sarah called after him but he didn't listen and kept on walking. 'Damn,' she muttered, once again on the brink of breaking down, 'this is just going to make things worse,'

'He just wants to help' Cissnei said comfortingly

Sarah sighed hopelessly, 'I'm just going to go and get some air,' she said and made her way to the balcony overlooking the city.

Once outside she quickly looked around to make sure there was no-one there then burst into tears once she was alone.

'Damn,' she sobbed into her hands, her elbows resting on the edge of the balcony, 'damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!'

The night had been going so well for her too...

Why did he pull away? Was there something wrong with her; was she utterly repulsive to him?

She didn't care anymore; she felt as though he had taken hold of her heart and torn it in two.

Did he even like her? Or was it just because she was all dressed up.

'You stupid idiot,' she sobbed in to her hands. She didn't know who this was for; him or her.

Him for kissing her and pulling away, or her for falling for him in the first place and for letting her emotions control her.

'Sarah?'

She quickly wiped her eyes and turned round to see Genesis standing behind her.

'Hey,' she said in a falsely cheery voice and tried her best to smile, but he wasn't fooled. He simply walked forward and embraced her tightly.

Sarah just let him hold her silently, not letting herself sob into his chest where her head was resting upon.

'I didn't know you liked him,' he said quietly. It almost sounded like an apology.

Sarah shook her head. 'It's stupid' she said into his chest

'Hm?'

'Liking someone...' she explained,

'No, it's not,' he said gently

'It is; it's futile. If it isn't, then why does it hurt so much?'

He said nothing for a moment, then said cautiously, 'maybe you just picked the wrong person'

She laughed bitterly,

'If your implying there could be someone else, don't bother; I'm not putting myself through this again'

Genesis frowned as he held the poor girl in his arms.

'Not even if it was someone who had feelings for you first?'

Sarah thought about this for a moment.

'It wouldn't be the same' she said finally

Genesis felt even worse for her when she said this – that damn Turk must have really broke her heart!

'You never know, you might fall in love,'

She smiled into his chest, 'I like your optimism,'

Genesis sighed.

'Well, are we standing out here all night or would you grant me the honour of a dance?'

Sarah smiled up at him and rested her chin on his chest,

'Hmm... Dancing sounds like fun,'

He grinned down at her, 'good' he said simply and led her inside.

On the way in she passed a concerned looking Cissnei. Sarah gave her a quick smile to let her know she was okay before she found herself on the dance floor with Genesis.

To be honest she didn't really feel like dancing but she knew all genesis was trying to do was make her feel better, and was thankful for it. He always knew how to make her smile and tonight was no different.

He recited to her one of his favourite poems and quoted loveless so many time in the space of one dance she was on the verge on hating it forever, but never the less, by the time the dance was over she was in a considerably better mood.

She was even laughing as they walked over to join Angeal and Sephiroth.

**With Reno and Tseng**

Reno stormed down the halls angrily in search of 'that god-damned idiot' called Tseng. It didn't talk him long.

The leader of the Turks was sitting on a bench in one of the hall ways, his head bent down and his hands clasped in front of him.

'What the hell was that all about?' Reno growled angrily as he stormed up to his boss.

Tseng didn't look surprised to see him, in fact, his face was expressionless.

'I'm sorry Reno, but I don't know what you're talking about,' he said blankly

'You know bloody well what I'm talking about!' The red head snarled, 'Why the hell did you do that to Sarah?'

'You saw?' He looked back down at the bloody saw

'You're damn right I saw!' He all but yelled, 'And I saw her fucking tears as well!'

Tseng's head snapped up and he looked slightly paler, 'She was crying?'

'Of course she was crying you idiot! Why the hell did you walk away like that?'

Tseng frowned slightly as if he was confused, 'She was crying because I walked away?' he croaked

'What else would it be?'

He just stared at the red head as if he didn't know the answer to Two plus Two

'Wait a minute,' Reno said slowly, 'you thought she would feel as if you were taking advantage of her?'

Tseng bowed his head again, 'Aren't I?'

Reno frowned deeply at Tseng; this was totally uncharacteristic of him.

'Not if she wants to be with you, which she does'

There was a pause in which Tseng considered this.

'You're sure about that?'

'Of course I'm sure! She's been head over her heels for you since day one!'

For a moment a gleam of hope flickered across Tseng's eyes, but it quickly vanished.

'It wouldn't work,' He said finally

'If you're worried about age difference-'

'It's not that,' Tseng cut across him

'Well whatever it is Sarah won't care; she loves you too much,'

He shook his head, pain and remorse filling his eyes,

'I did something that she'll never be able to forgive,' He said in a voice barely above a whisper, 'I killed her parents,'

Silence greeted this statement and Reno stared at his boss in horror.

'What?'

'It was about 14 years ago. My first mission with the Turks was to infiltrate SHARK, which was when they had just started out and were only a minor terrorist threat. A simple task of going to collect information to assess how much of a threat they were going to be turned into a hostage situation.'

Tseng sighed and looked up at Reno.

'There were three people there; Sarah, not even two years old yet, her mother Clarissa, and her father, Julian. I'm not clear how they were kidnapped, but I know why. Julian was one of Shinra's leading scientists, working with weapons design, and they wanted information. My orders were to stay undercover, no matter the circumstances; I couldn't do anything to stop what was going to happen.'

'What did happen?' Reno asked cautiously

'They tortured Julian for information, and made Sarah and Clarissa watch. He kept begging that they be let go so after he refused to give them information, three of them raped Clarissa. They threatened to hurt Sarah if they didn't give them information.'

'What happened then?'

'They'd had enough. It was enough that the two of them had been hurt, they didn't want to see anything happen to their daughter as well; Julian handed over the information they wanted, and then I was ordered to kill them; all three of them.'

'But... you didn't'

'No, I didn't. Not all three of them. First I killed Julian, then Clarissa, and then I turned my gun on Sarah...' his voice faltered with emotion, 'She'd stopped crying and just looked at me. I couldn't shoot. At that moment, the leader of SHARK 'D.Z' had walked in. He just looked at Sarah once and gave the order to spare her life. I didn't know why he did that, not until the day that we found her on the streets.'

Reno was speechless. He just stared at Tseng as what he was hearing registered in his brain.

'So, that's how you knew she was the one we were looking for'

Tseng nodded, 'She looks just like her mother, but she's got her father's brains.'

'Enchanting story' a cold voice came from down the hall and a man stepped around the corner. They recognised his face at once from the files they had seen on him, 'Now, if you would be so kind as to lead the way to Sarah, I have business to discuss with her.'

Both the Turks stood and faced the man.

'Tyler, isn't it?' Reno asked in mock politeness

'Why, you've heard of me then,' Tyler said in a silky voice, 'Now, Sarah, where is she?'

'Why would we want to tell you that?' Tseng asked challengingly

Tyler laughed.

'Because if you behave like good little boys and tell me, I may just spare your lives'

Reno and Tseng glanced at each other and simultaneously attacked as Tyler laughed again.

**Back with Sarah**

Sarah had butterflies in her stomach again as Sephiroth led her onto the dance floor, trying to ignore the fact that nearly everyone's eyes who weren't dancing were on them.

According to Genesis it was a rare thing to see Sephiroth dancing so she would have to expect quite a bit of attention.

They turned to face each other and Sarah found herself incredibly thankful that she was wearing shoes with very large heels. She smiled nervously up at him as they began to dance. He returned the smile and Sarah's heart fluttered as she blushed; it felt strange to be this close to him.

They danced in silence for a couple of minutes, neither knowing what to say, yet it was a comfortable silence. He simply held her close to him calmly as his heart raged in his chest. He was so close to her, yet so far.

Never before had he felt like this for anyone, and his uncertainty in the matter scared him slightly. He wanted to say something, but nothing sprung to mind. He wanted to kiss her, but knew he couldn't, not now at any rate.

Sephiroth looked down at Sarah once again and noticed how distant she looked.

He opened his mouth to talk to her but was cut off by a shrill scream from near the entrance of the hall. The next moment enlightened him to what was going on. Walking through the entrance was a man about the age of twenty, dragging behind him two barely conscious men; Reno and Tseng.

Sarah gasped and made to run forward, but Sephiroth grabbed hold of her arm and shook his head slightly.

'Guard the President,' he muttered to her motioning for her to avoid attention by walking round the back of the crowds. She nodded ever so slightly and cast Tyler one last mutinous glance before quietly moving away.

'What is the meaning of this?' Sephiroth's voice boomed out as he walked forward. Tyler merely sneered and threw the two men forward. They landed heavily with grunts of pain.

'You know,' he laughed, 'I expected more of Shinra lackeys'

Angeal and Genesis headed forward to join Sephiroth. Tyler laughed coldly again

'Excellent; more meat to play with! But it's a pity that I didn't come here to fight.'

'What's the matter?' Genesis sneered, 'scared?'

'Hardly. I just came to collect what belongs to me.'

'And what would that be?' Sephiroth asked

'Sarah' Tyler said simply, and many eyes in the hall swivelled towards her

'How about we just kill you instead?' Genesis growled and launched himself at Tyler. There wasn't even a fight. Tyler simply swatted genesis as if he was a fly and sent him flying across the hall as the screams of the guests echoed through it. Genesis landed with a sickening crack and didn't move.

'TYLER!!!' Sarah yelled and ran forward as he turned towards the other SOLDIERs.

'Ah, Sarah, how nice it is too see you again'

'Cut the crap Tyler, what do you want?' She snapped

'Tut, tut, that language is very unbecoming of such a lovely lady like yourself,' he said and walked forward a few paces. Sephiroth and Angeal made to walk forward too but Sarah shook her head at them.

'Oh how sweet, they want to protect you' he mocked and Sarah hit him hard across the cheek

'Get out of here,' she growled.

'Or what?' he asked silkily stepping forward so he was barely a foot from her

'Or you die!'

At this Tyler laughed again, 'You really think you can beat me?'

'Only one way to find out isn't there?' she said and without waiting for his response hit him in the stomach and caused him to double over. The next few seconds were a blur.

Angeal and Sephiroth attacked at the same time, Sarah dodged Tyler's attack, and then suddenly, somehow, Tyler had a blade at the president's throat.

'Tyler,' Sarah said cautiously approaching them

'So,' he said pressing the blade into Shinra's neck and drawing a few droplets of blood, 'I'll take this as you won't come willingly?'

Sarah said noting; what was she supposed to say? What if she refused and he killed the President.

'What happens if I refuse?'

'Oh, don't worry; I won't kill your precious President if that's what you're worried about. But if you agree,' he said persuasively, 'you will have everything you've always wanted.'

Sarah frowned. Everything she's always wanted?

She cast a quick glance at the two SOLDIERS. Sephiroth was looking at Tyler calculatingly, and Angeal was frowning. She then looked at Cissnei and saw Rude standing next to her. They both shook their heads ever so slightly.

'What are you talking about?' she directed at Tyler

'A family, a place to call home. You've always wanted these, yes?'

Sarah said nothing but her heart pounded; yes, she had always wanted these things, all her life.

'We can give these to you Sarah, SHARK, can give these to you. Haven't you always wanted to meet your parents? You have, haven't you? You don't need to say it; I can tell. If you come with me, you can.'

Sarah stared at him, almost forgetting to breathe.

'Sarah, no!' Reno groaned from the floor behind her, 'don't listen to him, your parents are dead!'

Her lips parted in shock.

'Don't you see what these Shinra scum are doing to you; they are filling your head with lies. Of course your parents aren't dead, come with me and I'll prove it to you.'

Sarah remained silent. There was definitely something fishy about this, but the lure of finding her parents... was Reno telling the truth? If he had known, why hadn't he told her before? But then again...

'Why are you trying so hard to get me on your side?' she questioned Tyler

'Sarah, Sarah, Sarah,' he said smiling and shaking his head, 'I thought that that would be obvious; you don't belong here, don't you see that. You are unique Sarah, you are stronger than they are, better. Can't you see what they are doing to you? They are holding you back and filling your head with lies – You can't trust them!

'And I can trust you?' Sarah sneered

'We grew up together, you know you can,' he said in a sickeningly sweet voice that made her want to tear out his voice box.

Then suddenly she smiled, 'You're right, I can trust you. '

This was met with a gasp from Reno and Cissnei, and Rude, Sephiroth and Angeal stepped forward slightly. Sarah continued

'I can trust you to be deceitful, hurt me, and make my life a living hell.'

Tyler's face darkened a bit

'Think about it Sarah; SHARK would welcome you back with open arms, you'd be a great leader, a great fighter. You're telling me that you have been accepted here, that you were greeted with nothing but care and attention.'

Sarah actually laughed at this.

'No, I was brought in off the streets, taken one look at and was about to be put to death before I willingly handed over information on Wutai and SHARK.'

'Trivial matters!' Tyler said lightly although she could sense his anger, 'It can be over looked. The fact remains that if you return to Wutai with me you will be treated as a hero.'

'I don't care. I'd rather earn that kind of respect. And as for family,' she said hastily before he could interrupt, 'as far as I'm concerned, Shinra is now my family. They took me in, grudgingly, but they did so. Now, I really don't care what else you have to say, so you can leave.'

Tyler sneered.

'You have just gone and made the biggest mistake of your life; you will regret your words!'

'Ooooh, I'm so scared,' she said sarcastically, even though she actually was, a little.

'This means war!' he growled

'We're already at war you idiot!' she laughed. He just sneered at her again and without further ado he threw the President away from him and before anyone had a chance to move he disappeared.

Cissnei and Rude ran forward to the President and Sarah hurried over to Genesis while others helped the two Turks.

'Genesis,' she called his name as she knelt down beside him and checked his pulse. He seemed to just be unconscious, hopefully no lasting damage.

A medical team rushed over to the SOLDIER and took him away quickly. She wanted to go with them to see that they were alright but she was summoned by the President.

'I want you all in the conference room' he said and left.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Well this chapter is crap, don't you think so?**_

_**Still a review would mean the world and thank you to all the people who have reviewed so far!**_

_**I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can, and let me know whether you want a Sarah x Tseng pairing or a Sarah x Sephiroth pairing because I can still swing it either way.**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**Until next time,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Sorry I'm taking so long to update but I don't actually have my computer anymore because I'm staying at my friends because I can't go home :( I'm just working in every spare minute that my friend isn't on her computer lol! Anyway, there should be a bit more Tyler involvement in the next couple of chapters at least, for those of you who wanted to know more about him, and as usual any comments will be greatly appreciated. Enjoy...**_

'This is more serious then I expected,' the president said when all had arrived in the conference room, after everyone at the party had been sent home.

'Is Genesis badly hurt?' Angeal asked concernedly

'Thanks to his mako-enhanced body he will survive, but if it was any normal person they would have surely been killed,' Shinra said gravely and Sarah frowned slightly

'It's funny,' she said and everyone looked at her, 'he never seemed that strong before, I thought he would be just as strong as maybe a very good first class soldier, I never considered the possibility that he could wipe the floor with one,'

They all looked thoughtful at this

'I don't think any of us could have anticipated this,' Shinra said, 'but there is no way that Shinra will back down!'

'I wasn't suggesting it,' Sarah said calmly, 'but we have to proceed with extreme caution,'

'Agreed,' Sephiroth joined in 'perhaps it would be best to find out a bit more about our new enemy before going into battle'

'Yes, but we already have all the information from the base Tyler and I were raised in, unless...' Sarah trailed off thoughtfully

'What is it?' Shinra asked rather impatiently

'Well, I was just thinking if it was possible to somehow get information on what exactly it is that Tyler has been dong within the Wutai military. He's been assigned there for quite a while now, and finding out what it is he is best at, may give us a way to spot his weaknesses, if he has any that is'

The President considered this for a moment,

'That is a possibility, but with someone that strong, how much of a difference will it make?' he asked

'I wouldn't say that it's his strength that's a problem,' she said slowly and the others in the room looked at her incredulously, 'I mean, when I trained with him after the enhancements started working, it was more predicting what he was going to do and countering it. Strength came as a second thought. Besides, Tyler just broke in in the middle of a dance, no-one was expecting him. Maybe next time we'll be a little more prepared.'

This was met with a thoughtful pause, but their face still looked uncertain.

'Very well,' Shinra said, 'we will organise a mission to wutai, and Sarah,' he said turning to her, 'I would like you to start training with SOLDIER as soon as possible so we can get a rough idea of how strong Tyler is compared to Soldier.'

Sarah nodded; she'd been waiting to get revenge on Wutai a long time now and this was a perfect opportunity.

'We will discuss this more tomorrow. You are dismissed.'

They all got up to leave.

Angeal and Sephiroth headed off to the infirmary to see Genesis but Sarah had too much on her mind and went straight to her quarters.

'We need a lot more information on what Tyler has been doing,' she mused as she walked throught the corridors along to her room, 'and I can only give them so much. There has to be something we missed at that base, another computer maybe or...'

Sarah stopped abruptly and smacked her hand to her forehead, 'you idiot', she muttered and ran the rest of the way to her room.

She had forgotten all about it and it had been sitting on her computer for all this time.

Turning on her computer she quickly began to search through her documents and breathed a sigh of relief when she found what she was looking for.

She should have remembered sooner - this was the file that she had sent to her computer when they had infiltrated the base she had grown up in, the reason she almost didn't get out alive.

'Damn!' she muttered when the file wouldn't open, 'this is gonna take some time...' and she began trying to hack into the overly protected file.

This file could contain all that they had been hoping to find, and it had been here the whole time - she hoped they wouldn't be too mad about her forgetting it if it contained all that they wanted.

Now she thought about it, it was likely that this was the treatments that she and Tyler had been subject too - it made sense seeing how well protected it was. Anyway it had to be something very important, and several hours later she wasn't disappointed.

'Yes!' she hissed as she gained access to the document. Her stomach was doing back-flips with anticipation as she searched it and true enough, there were the details of the experiments, the results of the tests and details of fighting capabilities of the two subjects - Sarah and Tyler.

Relieved, Sarah leaned back in her chair and laughed.

Getting an empty disk out of her desk she transfered the files onto it and quickly got changed out of her dress into some normal clothing.

With the transfer complete she ran out of her room and straight into Cloud and Ross.

'Whoa!' she yelped as Cloud caught her

'Sarah!' Ross exclaimed, 'is everything alright? Everyone has been called onto duty to patrol - people are saying that there is an intruder and he killed a first class SOLDIER!'

Sarah stared at him - Genesis couldn't be dead could he? No, of course not; it had to just be rumors of scared cadets.

'Yes, there has been an intruder, but I'm not at liberty to say anything else, apart from that no-one has died; that is just a rumor, got it,' she said firmly. The two boys nodded and Sarah ran past them

'Where are you going?' Cloud called after her,

'No time to explain,' she shouted back and took off at full speed.

It was little surprise to her that she didn't run into any Turks in their living area; they must all be out guarding the place.

She paused for a minute in a corridor; where should she go - the presidents office was the logical choice, but for some reason she hesitated. She knew what she had to do, but it wasn't very likely that President Shinra or the General would agree with her. Perhaps discretion would be the best route to go...

'Yes,' she thought as she began running again, 'discretion would be best'

She hit the buttons on the elevator and it came into view.

'Come on, hurry up!' she muttered agitatedly as the doors slid shut and the lift began moving.

After what seemed an age to her racing mind she came to the right floor and forced herself out of the doors before they were fully open.

She pelted down the corridor and burst into Hojo's lab, causing said man to swear loudly and jump, dropping a vial he was holding.

'Hojo,' she panted running up to him as he looked at her as if she was the mad one, 'I need you to do me a favor'

Hojo stared at her for a second then burst out laughing. Sarah stared at him incredulously.

'And why should I help you, little Wutai flea?'

Sarah clenched her fist and said angrily through gritted teeth, 'because, unfortunately, desperate times call for desperate measures'

'Desperate times,' he said lightly, turning away, 'whatever could you mean?'

Sarah sighed angrily

'You do know that there was an intruder tonight, don't you'

'I heard something of it' Hojo said as if this was all a child's play

'And you do know that he knocked a First class SOLDIER out with one hit; swatted him as if he were an irksome fly!'

Hojo seemed to stiffen slightly at this so Sarah continued

'Yes, that's right. Genesis, one of Shinra's best fighters. He is now in the infirmary because of a Wutai flea like me.'

'Hmph. What does this have to do with you coming to see me?'

Sarah rolled her eyes and took a deep breath

'I need you to continue the experiments Wutai were performing on me'

Hojo turned his head slightly towards her but said nothing

'I think it's the only way we can beat him.'

At this Hojo sneered and turned round to face her, 'Ah, so you think that not even the General could stand up to this new enemy. You think that you could be stronger than Sephiroth?'

'I'm not making comparisons!' Sarah snapped before she could stop herself

'Hmm, I seem to have hit a nerve,' he laughed cruelly

'Just shut up and help me old man!' she growled angrily

Hojo sneered again

'Does the President know of this?' he asked and Sarah shook her head

'What do I stand to gain?'

Sarah sighed and looked down at the floor, 'A wutian guinea pig' then she looked up at him with an idea, 'and a chance to prove that you are just as good as the wutai scientists that created Shark, because lets face it, they completely wiped the floor with SOLDIER.'

Hojo didn't say or do anything to suggest it but she knew she had hit a nerve. She held out the disk to him, 'can you do it within three days?'

The scientist took the disk wordlessly but with a mutinous expression on his face, and he inserted the disk into computer while Sarah silently congratulated herself; pride was every scientists failing.

'Let's see...' he muttered as the research appeared on the computer screen and he looked through it.'Ha,' he muttered, 'this would be very simple if I had the resources'

Sarah heard this and looked over his shoulder.

'I can get you what you need. Just tell me what and how much.'

* * *

The next hour found Sarah sneaking into the materia storeroom and taking a high level cure, fire, silence, All and mimic materia, then into the weapons store room where she took two katana's which looked like mini versions of Sephiroth's masamune. She chose these swords because she needed something light. Then she also took a couple hand guns and equipped them with silencers.

She also found a rucksack to put the materials she was going to steal in.

'Okay, this is it' she thought as she checked over her equipment, 'now I just have to get out of the building unnoticed. Getting around the building was hard enough, getting out will be damn near impossible...'

She thought this over for a minute then shook her head in disbelief at how stupid she had been

'God I'm an idiot; I'm not an intruder. I can just say I have been assigned to duty out side the building if anybody asks'

She chuckled at herself then headed out of the room. She made her way down to the bottom floor and exited the building; no-one tried to stop her.

'I can't believe I'm doing this,' she thought as she darted down an alleyway to avoid suspicion of walking directly out of the city.

She walked through the back alleyways, casting wary glances over her shoulder from time to time then suddenly froze when she hear a noise behind her.

She turned round and percieved a figure walking towards her,

'Tyler...' she breathed as he came into view

He just stood here calmly, studying her with a small smirk on his face, 'Hmm, you looked better last time I saw you,' he murmered just loud enough for her to hear, 'you did look quite - stunning tonight, all dressed up,'

She blushed slightly and said more confidently than she felt, 'What do you want?'

'I thought that would be obvious; you,' he said still smirking slightly

Sarah's heart raced a little faster and her fingers brushed the hilt of one of her swords.

'Why?'

'Now, now,' he said silkily, 'you're not really in the position where you can ask questions are you?'

Sarah watched him steadily as he slowly approached her and jumped slightly when he roughly kicked a garbage can aside.

'You're not stupid,' she said with a slightly shaking voice, 'you should know that you'll never get me on your side'

He was now directly in front of her, less than a foot away - why hadn't she drawn her weapon yet?

'Oh, I wouldn't jump to conclusions too soon - you'll find I can be very _persuasive_' he said

He reached out a hand and brushed his fingers gently along her cheek as he said this but Sarah quickly caught hold of his wrist, alarmed, and he chuckled softly

'What are you playing at?' she spat

'Don't worry my love, you'll come round eventually'

He wrenched his arm from her grasp and pushed her roughly against the wall. She gasped in pain as her head made contact with it and he pushed his body up against hers.

'Perhaps I should start persuading you now...' he murmured, inhaling her scent deeply, 'after all, I never have had the chance to see you properly at a time when your not covered in my bruises and cuts.'

Why wasn't she fighting back? Her heart was racing and her mind had just froze. She couldn't bring herself to move, but did she want to; it almost felt good to have his body this close to hers...

She suddenly felt disgusted with herself and pushed him away roughly, the kicked him hard in the stomach.

'Now you're the one playing games' he said angrily as he straightened, but then quickly composed himself and said, 'Well, I see you have retained part of your enhancement... It is little wonder that you managed to get out of the base even though I sealed the door and put a barrier around it'

'What? That was you!?' she asked quite shocked

'Yes, I was in the area and heard those stupid little Turks shouting about how you were still inside the base, so I sealed the door shut so that you would be caught in the blast of the explosions when the bombs they laid went off'

Sarah stared at him - she really should have realised when Sephiroth said the doors had been left open...

'However,' he continued bringing her out of her reverie, ' you blasted the door open and managed to get onto the helicopter. My orders were to destroy you but I was impressed, to say the least, that you had managed to pull that off even though you no longer were receiving the treatments. I decided to let you go.'

'What of it?' she spat,

'Well, you see, Shinra were right about one thing; you are a great fighter, and possibly the only thing that stands in Wutai's way if you stay with Shinra. However, if you were to return to Wutai-'

'Oh, cut the crap!' she all but yelled, 'I'll never return to Wutai, there's nothing for me there, only pain and almost certain death! Don't even bother filling my head with all this crap about me becoming a hero should I return!'

'So you'll never return? Not even to see dear little Annie?'

Sarah froze - were they alive?

'And what about Connie and Tessie; they have been pining after you, wondering when you were going to come back to them-'

'Shut up!' she yelled.

She couldn't bear it - she thought they were dead. She had been sure they had all died the day that she managed to escape - was Tyler telling the truth? And what about earlier - was he telling the truth about her parents being alive. But that would mean that Reno had been lying.

How would Reno have known anyway? Why hadn't he said something before if he did know? Maybe he was just trying to stop her from going over to Wutai...

'Just leave here Tyler,' she sad, her voice choked with unknown tears

Tyler just smirked.

'Very well,' he said, 'I'll be in Edge in three days, when you decide to change your mind. Don't keep them waiting.'

Sarah stood there for several minutes in shock; he had found her for a second time that night. Would he ever leave her alone?

She mentally shook herself.

'Come on Sarah, get over it' she thought, 'you've got a job to do and the sooner you do it the sooner you can get that bastard off your case.'

She knew where she had to go; to the chocobo ranch, and then on to the hidden storage facility to get the resources for Hojo.

must have been about 2:30 in the morning by now, she only had a few hours to get to the facility and get what she needed; she was going to need a very fast chocobo.

Once out of the city, she broke into a run and didn't stop until she reached the ranch.

Breathing heavily, she crept around the so as not to disturb anything or anyone and stole into the stables.

After a few minutes of searching she picked the fastest looking one and made a quick and quiet departure, luring the sleepy chocobo out with some tasty looking chocobo food.

That had taken way too long she decided, as she hopped onto the chocobo and made it take off at full speed. Even at this this velocity it would take a couple of hours to get to the storage facility; she would have to be very quick once inside...

* * *

_**Well, how was that for a chapter?**_

_**It wasn't very good but it'll have to do for the time being.**_

_**Please review 'cos i'm not continuing until I get at least one!**_

_**Thank you for reading,**_

_**until next time,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94.**_


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Hi, for those of you who have read chapter 10 before I updated this, I have cahnged the ending slightly. For those of you who havent. I hope you are enjoying this! 

The 'hidden' storage facility was actually in plain view for everyone to see, and unfortunately, it was in Edge. From outside it was your everyday warehouse; corrugated metal for the top half of the walls, and grey stone slabs on the bottom, and a sloping roof. The alley outside was pitch black and deserted.

The air was cool and light. Sarah clutched onto the rucksack slung over her shoulder nervously as she made her way along the outside wall of the warehouse. She was so close to the wall that her arm scraped along it slightly.

A few metres from the door she paused and listened intently. She heard nothing but the sound of a dog barking streets away and the rustle of a paper bag on the ground. She decided it was safe and made her way to the door, only to find it had been left ajar. Sarah's already panicked mind went into overdrive.

What if Tyler was already in Edge and he was waiting for her. He knew what was on the file, so maybe he predicted her next move and was waiting here for her.

Blood rushed to her head and her heart thumped painfully in her chest. She couldn't turn back now. She reached out for the door, her breath bated. Her fingers closed round the cold metal bar handle of the door and she pushed it slowly open.

Sarah slipped inside cautiously and shut the door softly behind her. Dim lights buzzed softly above her, casting light over the facility. There were all sorts of crates here; classic wooden ones, large metal barrels, cylindrical containers. They all had labels on. That would make her search a lot easier.

She cast her eyes around for any signs of movement. Not being able to see over the high-piled containers, she couldn't be sure she was alone. She pulled out a gun with a silencer attached and headed off, sticking to the shadows as best as she could. Her feet made no sound on the slightly dirty concrete floor as she crept around the crates, slightly hunched over, her gun at the ready, and pausing now and again to read labels or to cast wary glanced around the building.

'This is definitely strange' Sarah thought as she check a few more labels and glanced over her shoulder once more, 'there should be guards here'

Ten minutes later however, there was still no sign of life and she had found the equipment and chemicals she needed. She was intrigued by one of the items especially; it was similar to the mako used for making SOLDIERs. She wondered what the difference was between them.

Her work done she put everything in her bag and turned to leave, but something caught her eye; it was an overseas transport container. What would they need that here for, she wondered. Unless... it was to transport_ people_!

Her heart rate suddenly increase and her breath caught in her throat. Was it possible that the girls were being stored here? Without waiting to consider the possibility that the could be something else in there, Sarah walked over and reached out to open it, but then hesitated. Instead she cast a quick look around the warehouse and pressed her ear against the wall of the container.

She heard nothing. She pulled back and bit her lip slightly, her hands still splay on the green painted metal. Looking over her shoulder again, she tapped on it with her nails. The sound echoed through the container, but there was still no movement. She did it again, louder this time, but still nothing.

She jumped as the light directly above her flickered and went out, leaving the area around her only dimly lit by the neighbouring lights.

Her palms began to sweat a little and she took a deep shaky breath to steady herself. She was getting scared now. She'd been pushing it to stay here this long, she had to get out of here and back to Shinra.

Closing her eyes for a second, she made up her mind. Not giving herself any time to change her mind, she pulled a flash-light from and outside pouch of her bag, switched it on and pulled the door of the container open.

Empty. Completely empty. She shone the torch into every corner and even on the roof, but saw nothing. She knew better than to actually go inside so she stepped back and let the door swing to, frowning.

It was then that she noticed something was wrong with her shadow – Or what she thought was her shadow. She froze with fear. Something was behind her, and she could sense it, or rather, smell it. It had a foul odour which she couldn't place. How hadn't she noticed it before?

Ever so slowly, her hand drifted towards the handle of one of her swords. She gripped it tightly. The shadow cast on the door of the crate didn't move at all – whatever was behind her was much bigger than her.

Taking a very deep breath, she spun round quickly and drew her sword out at the same time, only to step back on horror.

There, before her was a hideous creature. It looked like an oversized Canine but instead of fur it had congealed black blood covering rotting skin. Its hind legs were incredibly strong and it stood up on them, brandishing its front foot-long claws at Sarah. Drool dripped from yellow and black razor sharp teeth, and when it growled, a gust of putrid breath was let out.

Sarah felt nauseated and scared. Her hand was clenched so tightly around her sword that her knuckles had turned white.

For a moment, time seemed to stop, before the creature lunged at her. Luckily, she managed to pull herself together just in time to throw herself out of the way. She hit the ground hard and her torch broke, making it harder to see the dark beast. Trembling, she scrambled up and pulled out a second sword and rounded on the beast.

It lunged again as Sarah darted forward and slashed at it. It howled in pain as two gashes appeared in its side, but it quickly rounded on her again and slashed with its claws.

Sarah blocked the attack with one hand, and with the other tried to cut the nails off the beast, but her sword simply glanced off them as if they were made of metal.

'Damn!' she squeaked and she could have sworn it sneered at her. With a sudden idea she gave a running jump and propelled herself off the side of some crates, sending herself in an arc over the beast and slashed at its neck. She got her target and left another gash, but the beast was very agile and it caught her in mid flight with a heavy blow and sent her crashing into a wall of metal containers.

She tasted blood in her mouth and felt bruised all over. Quickly scrambling to her feet and kicking boxes out of the was, she fumbled around for some materia and slotted theminto her weapon just as the beast came lurching at her again. She jumped out of the way and sent a fire attack at it, making it recoil in pain. It gave a deafening roar and Sarah covered her ears and cowered. Then it picked up a crate and she froze momentarily before it chucked it at her. She cut it in two with her sword, but another crate followed it too quickly and it glanced off the side of her head. Once again she went crashing to the ground.

All of a sudden her body felt weak and exhausted. She forced herself onto her hands and knees as she sensed the beast looming up on her. The beast brought its fists down violently to crush her and Sarah only just managed to dodge. Immediately she cast a time spell on the beast to slow it down and give her a chance, but it didn't work.

Swearing under her breath she sheathed one of her swords and pulled out her gun. She fired three shots at it. This seemed effective. Chunks of skin were blasted away by the bullets and blood splattered to the ground. The monster let out a blood curdling howl of pain and reared up on its hind legs.

For a moment, Sarah thought she had won, but the the beast turned on her again, its eyes glowing red, and she knew she was in trouble. It drew in an almighty breath and, before Sarah had a chance, it spurted out a huge ball of fire. She raised her sword in an attempt to block it, but the bulk of it managed to hit her and she was sent soaring through the air once again, engulfed in flames.

She hit the wall and fell to the ground. Her head slumped forward. She was done for. She could feel the end approaching. Her eyes felt heavy and it was becoming harder to breathe. Although she hadn't raised her head to look, she knew the beast was approaching. It was coming slowly, deliberately. It knew it had already won.

Sarah couldn't move. She felt a tear fall from her eyes as her vision started to darken. Images flew in front of her eyes.

She was growing up and she was just talking to the girls in between training sessions.

The girls were smiling for the first time in months; Sarah sand a new song to them that she had learned when playing music.

She was breaking out of the facility, running away from everything she hated, running towards her freedom.

Tseng's face as he knelt down before her in the alley way.

Genesis grinning at her.

Sephiroth talking to her on the roof of Shinra-building

Angeal pinning Zack down in training.

Cloud and Ross in the refectory.

Rufus hugging her

Reno and Cissnei at the ball

Tseng kissing her

Dancing with Sephiroth

Sarah raised her eyes slowly to the beast. It was barely a metre away from her, towering over, drooling and snarling.

Tyler dragging the barely conscious Reno and Tseng behind him

Genesis falling to the ground

Tyler sneering, a blade at the Presidents throat

Running into Tyler in Midgar

The beast drew back its claw, preparing to strike. Her sword lay a metre away; she couldn't reach it now. She closed her eyes and another tear rolled down her cheek. It was unavoidable. It would strike. She would die.

All of the peoples faces she came to know and love were burned into her eye lids. She would never see them again.

The beast grinned. Sarah knew it would be over soon. She was ready for it. All the life was draining out of her anyway. This was just a quicker end.

The beast would strike now. She could sense its thrill. Sarah waited for the blow but it didn't come. Instead, it let out a deafening roar of pain.

'What's happening?' she thought.

Her eyes were so heavy... she could hear something happening. With the last ounce of energy in her she raised her head and lifted her heavy eyelids in time to see a figure slaying the beast with a flash of steel. It fell to the ground with an almighty crash which shook the whole warehouse.

Then the figure turned and walked towards her, but she couldn't make out who it was. Her vision darkened and blurred once again and she tried to keep her head held up.

In the distance she heard someone call her name but she was so tired. She wanted to rest.

A hand roughly grabbed her chin and forced her face upwards. Her name was called again, this time clearer. The voice sounded familiar. She felt a warmth spread though her. What was happening?

She opened her eyes to see that her vision was returning and there were two figures above her not just one.

As the feeling returned to her limbs her heart sunk. Kneeling down holding her chin up and looking worried was Angeal Hewely and standing a few feet away was none other that General Sephiroth, his mako green eyes blazing with anger.

'Sarah?' Angeal asked softly, 'Are you Okay?'

Sarah looked at him but then averted her eyes in shame. She nodded to her knees and tried to stop tears welling in her eyes.

'We must leave' Sephiroth said briskly from up above her

'She needs time to rest!' Angeal relied rather forcefully, but Sarah shook her head much to his surprise and made to get up.

She still felt tired and moved slowly. Angeal helped her up and she swayed on the spot once upright, He kept a hand on her shoulder for a moment while she took a deep breath, then went and picked up her sword off the ground and handed it to her.

She gave a small thank you and sheathed it, after, she looked up at Angeal,

'What are you doing here?' she asked, her voice weak and quiet. Angeal opened his mouth to respond but Sephiroth cut across him

'We will discuss this later' he said, his voice echoing in the empty space, then he turned and started to walk away.

Sarah glanced back at Angeal who was frowning after Sephiroth. Sarah looked down at the ground and sighed, then followed after the silver-haired General, who was most likely going to kill her.

**_I'm sorry It's been so long since I updated and I hope people are still reading this._**

**_Thank you for reading,_**

**_UnchainedMelody94_**


	17. Chapter 17

_**Well Heres chapter 17. Hope you like it. The action will be starting soon so just hang in there. This is a crappy chapter so sorry in advance!**_

Chapter 17

'It was a relief to finally step out into the cool dark night once more, but the feelings of dread in the pit of Sarah's stomach were growing by the second. Standing at least four or five feet away from the General, she swore she could feel the anger radiating out of him.

'This way', Sephiroth said in his unbelievably calm voice and they began to head down the alley the way Sarah had came in.

She looked up at the sky as they walked and inhaled deeply. The night was clear and hundreds of stars were visible through the glare of the street lights. The only sounds were that of their footsteps resounding of the bricks walls either side of them as they walked and the slight whisper of a breeze drifting across their faces.

It was somewhat relaxing to have the wind caressing her skin and it calmed Sarah down enough for her to ask 'Why did you follow me?'

She knew they must have followed her; there was no way that President Shinra authorised the General and another first class Soldier to leave Shinra Headquarters at a time like this.

Angeal turned his head towards her slightly as they walked but the General ignored her and continued on in silence. His dark haired friend took this a cue not to say anything either – Sarah simply rolled her eyes; the silent treatment. How mature.

The three of them reached the end of the alley way and headed for the outskirts of the city, still not saying a word to each other. The streets were deserted, not surprising considering the signs of first light were only just beginning to slowly appear on the horizon, but Sarah couldn't shake the feeling that there was something hovering over her shoulder.

She looked back a fair few times, unnoticed by the other two men, but still failed to see the small shadow of a man standing on the top of a distant building, glaring after them with anger burning in his eyes.

**With Tyler**

Tyler watched their retreating backs, wondering if he could risk going after them. It was disobeying orders; no contact with Sarah unless she had come to join their side, and only if she was alone. He had observed the two men following her at a distance, and waiting in the alley way for her to come out alive and well.

He had watched as they heard the commotion of the beast sound from within the building and head in swiftly to help the foolish little girl.

Foolish – yes, that was a word that suited her well. It explained why she joined Shinra, and why she was holding onto the deluded impression that they wanted her there, and that they trusted her.

But she was also stubborn – that much was for sure. Even after taunts of being able to save her silly little friends she refused to accept her fate and rejoin Wutai.

Tyler turned and paced along the roof of the building he was on.

Then again, the same things could be said for the leader of SHARK – D.Z. Throughout all of SHARK's history, he had never once revealed his true name to anyone; the letters were probably not even his real initials.

Anyway, that wasn't the point. The point was that he kept on believing that Sarah would join them once more. Tyler simply couldn't understand why he wouldn't just let her go and order her death. She wasn't as strong as he was and very soon there would be more people like him – they didn't need her!

Sure she managed to break out of a base and then infiltrate it again with the help of Shinra, but that didn't make her anything special. Why couldn't D.Z see than it was him, Tyler, that was the great one, the one that would lead Wutai to victory, _without_ the help of filth like Sarah who couldn't pick the winning side even if it had a banner parading above its head.

Tyler turned and looked back at the lightening horizon in time to see a helicopter departing from the outskirts of the town.

'Run away again then little girl,' Tyler muttered into the dawn, 'but we'll meet in battle one day soon, and then you will see who is truly superior'

**Back with Sarah**

Sarah sat and stared out of the window of the helicopter. It was unusually quiet without Reno being the one piloting the vessel. Instead a weary looking Turk who she didn't know sat behind the controls.

Neither Sephiroth or Angeal had said a word to her yet and the feelings of apprehension and slight fear were growing in the pit of her stomach. Her mind wandered to the sample she had collected from within the store house.

'I wonder if I should give it to Hojo for testing' she wondered, 'but then again the President may order its confiscation, if he finds out, which he will, so...'

Sarah looked over at the two silent men. As she predicted neither of them made any sign of recognition towards her. She sighed quietly and looked back out of the window. The sky was growing lighter by the minute, turning it into a lovely shade of turquoise. After about a minute or so she looked back over at Angeal and Sephiroth.

She sighed angrily this time and said, 'Okay, I'm sorry I left the building without permission but I did have my reasons.'

Angeal turned his head towards her, but again Sephiroth ignored her, however she continued anyway.

'I remembered a document that I couldn't download when we broke into a Wutain base, which I sent to my computer back at Headquarters. I managed to open it and found the treatment that Wutai were giving me and Tyler'

Sephiroth still hadn't moved but Sarah could tell he was listening. Angeal turned to face her so she addresses him directly.

'I took them down to Hojo, don't ask why, but I did, and he told me what he would need to continue giving me the treatments'

'Why did you want to know?' Angeal asked cautiously,

Sarah sighed and looked down at her knees for a moment

'Because,' she said, looking back up at him, 'I found out something interesting whilst looking at the file; if I receive the SOLDIER treatments, I will die,'

She swore Sephiroth's head jerked towards her a millimetre or so but still he didn't make a sound. Angeal frowned

'How?'

Sarah reached into her bag and pulled out the sample, 'They treated me with this.'

Angeal reached out slowly and took the container from her. It was a metal cylinder, about a foot long and 10cm in diameter.

'What is it?' Angeal asked

'It's seems to be Mako, but it's been treated with something, I can't tell what though. I wanted to get it back to Hojo for analysis.'

Angeal turned the container over in his hands for a few seconds before Sephiroth finally spoke

'And if you were to receive Mako treatments?'

Sarah gave a small sadistic smile,

'Let's just say it would make Shinra's most High-tech explosives look like fire crackers'

Angeal's looked at her in disbelief while Sephiroth just nodded in his usual cool manner.

'What exactly do you mean by that?' Angeal questioned cautiously

'I'd go ballistic' Sarah replied simply, 'my strength would increase exponentially, I wouldn't be able to control who I killed, and after a while I would die because my body and mind would go into overload and fry themselves. There would be no way to stop it if the concentration of Mako was great enough.'

Angeal mulled this over for a while as Sarah yawned and sank back into her own thoughts.

All in all it had been a long night. It had started off great but had all went downhill from the moment Tseng had kissed her.

Unconsciously she touched her lips gently with her fingers.

'I wonder if he's alright?' she thought as her insides squirmed.

Across from her Sephiroth watched this little action and felt anger boil up inside of him.

'Damn stupid little girl,' he thought, 'perhaps it would be a good if she got kicked out of Shinra for her foolish behaviour! It would certainly do a lot for me.'

This didn't happen to Sephiroth very often, in fact he didn't think it had ever happened to him before, but he was confused.

Before Sarah had arrived his life had been simple; train, fight, kill and ensure the continuation of Shinra, but now that she was here, something else had been added to the equation; feelings.

And to cap it all off, they weren't just any old feelings, he was bloody well falling for this girl – hard and fast.

Anyone who had heard of Sephiroth, apart from Angeal and Genesis who knew better, saw him as the cold, strong and independent General of the Shinra army who didn't have any need for friends or for romance. But the fact remained that Sephiroth was indeed only human and it had been coming ever more painfully to his attention as of late, particularly in the events of the last few hours.

He glanced back over at Sarah who was still lost in thought and was now twiddling a lock of brown hair between her fingers, her brown orbs staring, unfocused, out of the window.

He wondered what was to come in the next few hours once the President found out what she had done. A part of him, a rather large part, didn't want to say anything to the president, because it may mean losing her. The other part of him was telling him to get over himself.

Angeal however was watching his two friends cautiously wondering if it was safe to safe to speak. As neither of them looked like they were going to say anything anytime soon, he threw caution to the winds and said something neither of the other two had expected.

'I think that we shouldn't inform the President of tonight's little... exertions,' he said carefully.

As predicted his two friends turned towards him with their eyebrows raised.

'Huh?' Sarah said dumbly

Sephiroth said nothing so Angeal continued.

'The President won't like the idea of you resuming the treatments from Wutai when he has the rest of SOLDIER at his disposal – he would just see it as a waste of money, and your actions tonight will undoubtedly lose you your place in Shinra.'

Sarah stared at him, dumbfounded but Sephiroth nodded and said

'Sounds like a good idea,' then he looked back out of the window again

'B-but won't you get into one heck of a lot of trouble for this?' she managed to stammer, not daring to believe that any of this was true.

Angeal smiled slightly,

'Only if someone finds out,'

Later on that day Sarah went down to Hojo's lab under the pretext of receiving SOLDIER treatments. As soon as they had arrived back at Shinra Sephiroth and Angeal had gone to see him to tell him of the new arrangement and deliver the sample while Sarah had gone back to her room for a couple of hours, not that she could have slept though.

But now she was being injected with the new and improved version of her Wutai treatments. Apparently Wutain scientists hadn't accounted for the different chromosomes in girls and boys, so now with the alterations she shouldn't have any problems.

It was just as unpleasant as ever though; she was still throwing up for the next couple of hours before she was called into the briefing room and officially given her status of SOLDIER third class.

And it was just in time too; latest intelligence showed that Wutai were planning to attack within the next three days.

Sarah bit her lip when she saw this. She always knew that she would have to face Wutai in battle at some point, just not so soon. However, one good conclusion could be drawn from this; Wutai were panicking – the war wouldn't go on for much longer.

She wouldn't be going out on to the battlefield just yet, her job was to stay back at HQ and defend the place in case of an attack.

Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal would be on the front lines of every attack. Sarah knew she shouldn't worry, but that didn't stop her from being worried. They were the three best in Shinra, but then again they were facing a new power, they had to be cautious.

The Turks, including Reno, Rude, Cissnei and Tseng, who had been fixed up by the doctors, would lead an air raid to flush them out.

As for Ross and Cloud, Sarah's two very good friends, they would be in units of cadets who would either guard Shinra or help in the attacks.

That evening, Sarah stood on a balcony looking over the city, watching the city lights start to come on as the last traces of sun sunk behind the horizon. It was a quiet night, too quiet. Almost like the calm before the storm.

She heard footsteps behind her and a moment later Sephiroth stood beside her and also looked out over the city.

'How are you feeling?' he asked after a moment

'Okay, I guess,' she said

There was another moments silence before Sarah spoke

'How long do you think that this war will last now?'

'I'm not sure,'

He studied her out of the corner of his eye for a few seconds. She really was beautiful, the way her eyes caught the evening light, and the way she lightly chewed her lip as she stood in silent contemplation.

He wanted to say something to her, about how he felt, and about the last couple of days; how angry he had been when Tseng kissed her and then ran away leaving her to sob her heart out, and how worried he had been when Angeal and he had discovered her after the fight with the beast, how he would have done anything to save her.

Meanwhile an internal battle was raging in Sarah's mind. 24 hours ago Tseng had kissed her and she hadn't seen him since, unless you counted the briefing in which he had caught her eye once, his expression unreadable. But now she was standing beside Sephiroth, the man who had just saved her life and who was the most powerful man alive, and she knew what the butterflies in her stomach meant. And now with the prospect of bloody battles looming – Why couldn't life just be simple?

* * *

_**Okay, I know this is short but please don't shoot me okay?**_

_**I'm a little unsure of how to proceed with this story, so suggestions would be really helpful, and I will take all into consideration.**_

_**Please Review - Just one little review, thats all I want :(  
**_

_**Thank you for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94.**_


	18. Chapter 18

_**Well here we go with Chapter 18. Don't judge me too harshly...**_

**Chapter 18**

'I'm scared!' Sarah squeaked at the four men in front of her who simply chuckled.

Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis (who had recovered really quickly), and Zack were with her in the training facility of Shinra building, and they were about to start 'proper' training with Sarah.

'Don't worry' Cooed Genesis, 'We'll be gentle,'

But this far from reassured her as she let out a short nervous 'Ha'

'I vaguely recall that the last time you said that the whole of Shinra thought we were having a foursome and I ended up with a concussion!'

Zack burst out laughing while Angeal chuckled at the 'fond' memory. Genesis however, simply waved it aside.

'That was ages ago' he reassured her, 'besides there are five of us now so it wouldn't work'

'Okay, but we're not playing any of your 'games' again' she said reluctantly and Genesis beamed,

'Very well, but we need to make this fun somehow, how about-'

'No! No fun and no games!' Sarah cut across him before he could suggest something totally crazy

'Well!' Genesis said, pretending to be really annoyed and putting his hands on his hips huffily, 'I can see when I'm not wanted!'

He turned to Angeal and Zack and she swore he gave them a shadow of a wink.

'Anyone else who thinks this is pure abuse can join me in a storm out which I am positive will leave you filled with remorse for a very, _very long time!'_

And with that the turned on his heel and began to march out. Angeal and Zack exchanged glances, trying to bite down on their laughter.

Sephiroth meanwhile looked menacing.

'Gen?' Sarah called out after him

'Not listening' he called over his shoulder

'Bu-'

'LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA...'

Sarah stared after him still 'LA-LA'-ing until he was outside

'Umm, maybe we should just... go and see if he's alright,' Angeal said slowly, his voice shaking with suppressed laughter. He grabbed Zack's arm and dragged him out quickly after Genesis.

Sarah just stared after them with a bemused expression on her face. She turned to Sephiroth who looked slightly surprised himself, and also a little annoyed.

'What just happened?' she asked and he just shook his head.

Suddenly it just hit her – she and Sephiroth were _alone_ together!

'I am going to kill them later!' The two of them thought at the same time.

* * *

'Genesis!' Angeal caught up with his friend in Red followed by Zack, both of them still suppressing their laughter, 'what was all that about?'

Genesis turned grinning slyly at them

'I just thought they could do with a little alone time' he smirked

Angeal laughed while Zack looked confused

'Am I missing something here?' the puppy asked

'Huh?' Angeal said, 'Oh er, nothing. Genesis you do realise he is going to kill you later'

'No he's not' Genesis replied confidently

'Oh really?' Angeal smirked, his eyebrows raised. Genesis nodded

'He'll kill all _three_ of us' he corrected.

'What? Why me? What did I do?' Zack panicked looking genuinely scared. They ignored him.

'But doesn't she like _somebody else' _Angeal said pointedly

'Oh yeah,' the Red head said slowly, then he shook his head, 'but he's an idiot'

Angeal shook his head in disbelief, 'Okay, but if Sarah gets hurt because of this, you'll be in trouble'

'Is anybody going to tell what the hell is going on?' Zack sighed.

As they walked down the corridor they didn't notice two mischievous Turks standing just round the corner they were passing.

Reno and Cissnei exchanged glances then quickly crept towards the training facility to see what was going on. They frowned.

'It's Sarah...' said Cissnei

'And Sephiroth' finished Reno

'Talking'

They both gasped at the same time

'_He_ likes her?' Cissnei said disbelievingly

'I thought we agreed it was Rhapsodos,' Reno muttered scratching his head.

'Unless they both do...'

'Then why would they' he jerked his head after the three SOLDIER's 'leave them alone together?' he nodded at Sarah and Sephiroth

'Good point...'

They stayed like that for a few seconds, not noticing two people come up behind them

'Do I want to know what you two are up to?' came the voice of none other than Rufus Shinra from behind them. They whipped round in shock to see him accompanied by an angry Tseng.

'Er-er, we were just, er...' Cissnei started

'Leaving' Reno finished and quickly dragged her away.

Rufus looked slightly amused and said, 'some days I wonder just _how_ the two of them became Turks in the first place...'

'I've been wondering that since day one,' Tseng muttered

**Training room – Just after Angeal, Genesis and Zack have left**

Suddenly it just hit her – she and Sephiroth were _alone_ together!

'I am going to kill them later!' The two of them thought at the same time.

Sarah glanced nervously at Sephiroth who wasn't looking at her. Damn, why couldn't she think of anything to say? Her mind had gone blank and she was pretty sure she looked gormless and was blushing.

Sephiroth wasn't any better. He just continued to stare at the floor, not able to bring himself to look at her. His throat felt as if it was glued together.

'Why is this so hard?' he asked himself, 'you've talked to her before!'

'Come on Sarah, say something,' she begged herself, 'you're looking like an idiot!'

For some reason she had a mental picture of a furious Sephiroth rescuing her from the monster attack in Edge. Suddenly she found her voice again and asked rather abruptly

'Why did you follow me to Edge?'

Just as abruptly she wished she hadn't; a flash of annoyance flickered across his brilliant green eyes, making her want to recoil. She blushed and looked down at the floor, fidgeting nervously. Neither of them noticed the two Turks outside the room watching them.

Sephiroth started when she asked this question – she wanted to talk about this?

'Well what did you think she would say? Did you think she would confess her undying love for you or something? She likes that goddamn bloody Turk and you know that!' he snapped at himself in his head.

He mentally sighed and then answered her question.

'I thought perhaps you had taken Wutai's bait,' he said

Sarah looked up at him startled but then quickly looked away as brown eyes met green. She felt a hot surge of adrenaline rush through her, whether from anger or something else she couldn't tell.

However, before either of them could say anything else, the door opened and two people came in. Sarah thought her stomach had just dropped out of her.

Walking towards them were Rufus and Tseng.

'General,' Rufus nodded towards Sephiroth in greeting whilst Tseng just nodded. Sephiroth returned the action silently, anger suddenly boiling inside of him at the sight of the Turk.

'Sarah,' Rufus said warmly and to her surprise walked forward and hugged her, not realising that the other two men would have liked to kill him for being able to be so easy around her. He let go and gave her a quick look up and down, 'How are you feeling. I hear receiving SOLDIER treatments aren't all fun and games' he said with a wry smile

'Especially not when it's Hojo with the needle,' she joked, Rufus smiled then turned to the General.

'I wonder if I could borrow Sarah for a few seconds, just for a little chat, do you mind?' her asked. Sephiroth nodded, not that he really had any choice in the matter but...

Rufus guided her a few metres away from the other two men, leaving the tension between them thicker than custard.

'I came to offer an invite, or rather a proposal,' he said and Sarah raised her eyebrows in question, 'since we share our Birthday, I would be honoured if you would come out with us,'

'I er,' she started

'Don't forget you've already said you'll come once before, this is just making it official,' he cut across her, pretending to sound stern

Sarah laughed slightly, 'yeah, sure that would be great!'

'Excellent,' he said brightly, 'I'll tell you more later, when I decide where we're going,'

'Right,' she said happily

Rufus studied her for a few seconds before lowering his voice and asking her, 'How are you after everything that has happened?'

Sarah looked at him, 'I'm okay' she said

'Just remember that everyone here cares a lot about you,' he looked at her so seriously when he said this she felt emotion rise up in her chest. She could tell he really meant this.

'Thank you,' she smiled sadly at him, 'that really does mean a lot,'

He gave her one last quick hug before they walked back over to join Tseng and Sephiroth. Neither of them could understand why each of them looked so murderous, or why they weren't saying a word to each other.

Rufus nodded to Tseng to show that they were ready to leave. Sarah looked at him just as he glanced towards her. Her insides lurched as their eyes met – why did he look so angry?

Sephiroth and Sarah watched their retreating backs before Sarah quickly called out

'Rufus,'

He stopped and looked back at her, Tseng was still looking away.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself to ask the question that had been bugging her mind constantly since the ball

'What Reno said, about my parents,' Tseng stiffened and his head turned towards them slightly, 'is it true? Are they dead?'

Rufus' eyes saddened. He looked at her pitifully, 'I'm sorry, I don't know,' he answered truthfully, 'and to be honest I don't see how Reno could know either. I suggest you ask him,'

Sarah nodded and forced a quick smile before the two men departed.

She sighed and turned back to Sephiroth who had once again averted his eyes to the floor.

'Let's just get on with this' she said, her voice strained. He looked at her for a second then nodded. He would take his anger out on something else later.

* * *

Hours later, after brutal training, Sarah headed down towards the nearly empty refectory. She looked around and saw Angeal and Genesis sitting together. She smiled at them, then spotted Cloud and Ross sitting a few tables away so she went to join them.

'Hey guys' she said as she slipped into the seat next to Ross

'Hey' Ross said

'Long time no see,' Cloud grinned at her, 'I see you made it into SOLDIER'

'Did either of you?' she asked hopefully, but they both shook their heads. 'Oh' she said miserably, 'I'm sorry'

They both shook their heads.

'So what've you been up to?' Cloud asked

'Well, for the past few hours Sephiroth has been proving how much better he is than me at sword fighting whilst beating the living shit out of me'

Clouds jaw dropped as he looked awestruck

'You got to train with Sephiroth!?' he gasped as if this was the most juicy gossip in the last century

Sarah just looked at him strangely, 'yeah, I was supposed to be with _other SOLDIERS_ but then they _left' _she raised her voice loud enough for Angeal and Genesis to her. Angeal was working hard not to smile and she could tell even from the back that Genesis was smirking.

'So you two were _alone together?' _Cloud asked sounding amazed as Sarah saw Genesis' shoulders start to shake through laughter, 'what's he like?'

Sarah cast a quick evil glance in the direction of the SOLDIER's and said very clearly, 'we'll he's very _skilled_ and I'm not talking about sword fighting here. It's just a pity we didn't get around to doing much talking.'

At this Genesis let out a snort of laughter which he tried to turn into a cough. Ross and Cloud looked at him.

'Ross,' Sarah said sweetly, 'could I have a chip please?'

'Uh, yeah sure,' the brown haired boy said

'Thank you'

Sarah picked up a chip which she made sure was covered in gravy. She then carefully took aim and pelted it off the back of Genesis' head.

'Sarah!' Ross gasped as Cloud slapped his hand to his mouth on horror. Sarah and Angeal meanwhile were fighting to keep straight faces and Genesis stood up slowly, the gravy chip dropping from his previously clean hair, onto his coat and then to the floor with a splat.

He turned around slowly, a truly frightening look on his face. Ross and Cloud cowered but Sarah could see the playful spark in his eyes. The mad red head took a step towards them and Sarah hurriedly pointed her finger at Ross beside her, who began to splutter hopelessly.

He headed over to their table slowly and came to a stop next to Cloud whose blond spikes were quivering as he shook and looked across the table at Sarah who was shaking with laughter.

Then, just as slowly he picked up Cloud's abandoned plate of Sausages and mash covered with hoards of gravy and poured it over Sarah's head.

Sarah then took Ross' plate and chucked the contents into Genesis' face then put the plate back in front of Ross calmly.

'And that was for...?' Genesis asked as he wiped gravy from his face.

'That my friend,' she said sweetly, 'was payback for your payback which was payback for my payback'

'Huh?'

'Payback'

'What for?'

'I think you know'

Genesis just smirked at her for a second before she continued.

'But not only you,' she said, standing up and scooping two handfuls of gravy and mash off her head.

She walked over to Angeal whose eyes were watering with the monumental effort of not laughing and chucked a handful of the sloppy mess in his face.

'What the!?' Zack laughed from the entrance to the refectory and walked over to them, still laughing, that was until Sarah chucked the second handful into his face and he got a mouthful of it.

'You,' she said menacingly pointing at Zack with a gravy and mash soaked hand, 'and _you_' she pointed at Angeal, 'and _**you**_**' **she pointed at Genesis, 'are going to pay dearly'

At this the Red headed SOLDIER burst out laughing. Cloud and Ross looked both petrified and amused.

'It is not funny' Sarah wailed hitting him on the arm with every word, 'you left me alone with him! Why? Why, why, why, why, why, why?'

'I'm sure it wasn't that bad' Angeal laughed and Sarah rounded on him

'Not that bad!? I've never been in such an awkward situation in my life, and I don't even know _why _it was awkward! He could barely say anything to me! Are you sure you didn't take his voice with you when you ditched me?'

She saw Angeal and Genesis exchange glances, and they laughed even harder

'What? You know something, don't you?'

'What ever do you mean?' Angeal said lightly

'Yes, I think all this gravy has affected your thinking' Genesis said, wiping a drop of gravy off her face with his finger.

'My thinking' she snapped, grabbing hold of his finger, 'is perfectly clear, thank you very much'

'You know' he murmured, his eyes darting briefly to the door then leaning to talk into her ear, 'it's hard to take you so seriously when you look so... delectable'

'_Genesis!' _Sarah yelped, 'I seriously don't want to know how _delectable_ or otherwise you think I am!'

'What is going on here!?'

Sarah whipped round to see Sephiroth standing at the doorway, his eyes blazing as they swept over Sarah, Genesis, Zack and Angeal who were all covered in some sort of food. Cloud and Ross were still red from laughing but had stood to attention as soon as Sephiroth had entered.

'I er- we, um...' Sarah stuttered

'Just having a bit of fun' Genesis finished whilst grinning and draping his arm across Sarah's shoulders and brining her closer to him.

Sephiroth drew himself to his full height and glared at Genesis. Sarah, Zack, Cloud and Ross cowered slightly.

He turned to the two Cadets, 'The two of you are dismissed'

Sarah watched as they quickly scurried out of the hall then looked back at the angry General, wondering why it was always him who found them in ridiculous situations like this.

* * *

An hour later Sarah headed back to her own room with stiff shoulders and neck. That bloody sadistic Twat had made the four of them scrub out the entire refectory!

She walked into the Turks area and saw Tseng, Reno, Cissnei and Rude sitting together. They hadn't noticed her yet. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she looked at them.

'Oh what the hell,' she thought as she headed over to them, 'I've had a bad enough day already. Why not make it a bit worse'

Cissnei looked up as she approached and smiled.

'Hey Sarah,' she said and the other three looked up in astonishment but she didn't look at them, 'why are you covered in gravy?'

'Food fight,' she said shortly and then took a deep breath, 'Okay, Reno, I need to talk to you,'

Clearly none of them were expecting this.

* * *

_**Ta-D! Chapter 18 complete!**_

_**Please, please, please review this because I really want to know what you think! Just ONE measly review **_

_**This chapter isn't as good as some of the others but I promise they will get better, just be patient and I'll update as soon as I can.**_

_**Thank you for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_

_**xx**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**I don't know whether I'm going to go on to the story line of Crisis Core or not. I'd like to get people's opinion on this so could you either submit a review or pm me, it would be a great help. Just bare in mind that going off on my own story line would give me more freedom and I seem to write better that way.**_

_**Anyway, enjoy**_

xx

* * *

'Okay, Reno, we need to talk'

Clearly none of them were expecting this. Reno's face dropped comically and he glanced, unsure, at the other three Turks as if hoping for a clue.

Cissnei also looked shocked and even Rude had his eyebrows raised behind his sunglasses. Tseng however was apparently absorbed in his paperwork but his eyes weren't focused.

'Er, we do?' Reno asked Sarah finally who was determinedly not looking at Tseng.

'Yes,' she said with the same air of determination, her arms folded across her chest, 'we do,'

Reno nodded and made to get up but then Tseng spoke

'Reno sit down,'

'Huh' Reno seemed nonplussed

'Sit. Down.' He repeated slowly still not looking up from his paperwork. Reno glanced at Sarah before sinking back down into his chair. Said girl was starting to get angry.

'This is important,' she glared at the Turk who still didn't have the decency to look up at her

'And so is Reno's job,' he said clearly, 'and if he wishes to keep that job, he will sit here and complete his paperwork,' he now raised his eyes to look directly into hers, 'Frivolities can wait'

Sarah felt as if she had just been punched in the stomach. Surely Tseng knew what she wished to ask about, so why was he stopping her. Did he hate her now?

'Unbelievable' she muttered angrily before storming off up to her room.

'Fucking bastard,' she thought as she kicked her shoes off and tore off her top, flinging it onto her bed, 'he was there when I asked Rufus about my parents! Or is he just going to try and stop me from talking to my friends. Just what the hell did I do wrong?'

Heading into the bathroom and ripping off the rest of her clothes she got into the shower angrily and turned the water on full pelt to rid herself of the gravy and mash that still covered her.

'I haven't even done anything! It was he who kissed me then walked away! Is he blaming me for that?'

Then she suddenly smiled as a tear rolled down her cheek, 'well at least I still have Genesis around to cheer me up with food fights and what not. I'm sure as hell going to need him around if I have to spend more time around Tseng and Sephiroth'

**With the Turks**

Tseng watched Sarah storm away with a twinge of regret in his heart. She probably felt like hitting him or something, but then again he deserved it.

Reno, Rude and Cissnei just sat there, unsure of what to do. Ordinarily they would have said something but they didn't dare seeing that Tseng was in his 'Boss' mode. Yet Reno _really_ wanted to say something.

'Um-' the Red-haired Turk began, but then Tseng cut across him,

'She wanted to talk about her parents,' he said briskly and looked back down at his paperwork

'Oh' was all Reno could say. Cissnei and Rude frowned – they had no idea what the hell they were talking about

'It would be best if I told her,' Tseng finished.

Reno understood but he still had his doubts – it was easy to see that Sarah was furious with Tseng, and already the incident with the two of them had driven a rift between the four Turks.

Reno had been openly angry with Tseng, but after he had explained he sort of understood his actions but had promised not to say anything to anyone else about it. Cissnei and Rude cold tell something was going on between them and knew that Reno was hiding something.

This began to fracture the trust although they didn't really realise it themselves. Also, Cissnei, who was very close to Sarah, was angry with Tseng for hurting her, but she couldn't say anything and get away with it like Reno did.

All in all, someone needed to do something soon.

**With Sarah**

_'Don't worry,' the scientist grinned, holding a massive needle full of something, 'this won't hurt a bit'_

_Sarah bit down hard on the leather strap they had gagged her with as the needle entered her, and started to scream as it burned through her body. Every bit of her felt as though it was on fire, she couldn't see, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think, and all she could hear was her own screams reverberating around the stone walls._

'No!' Sarah woke up abruptly and sat bolt upright. Once again she had woke up in a cold sweat because of her dreams. They always seemed so real. She could always feel the cold metal of the Table beneath her and the straps holding her down so tightly that she bruised.

She kicked her sheets of and swung her legs out of bed.

'I need a drink,' she thought, 'something hot,'

It seemed strange to some people, but whenever Sarah woke up like this it was always a cup of tea or coffee that calmed her down again and sent her back off to sleep. There was a kitchen that that lead off from the Turks living area which she often used, and had come in very handy.

She glanced at the time on her bedside table clock. It was just after 1:00am. No-one would be up at this time – most people had to get up about 5 or 6 in the morning.

Sarah sighed, pushed herself up off the bed and headed out of her room. Tonight she had elected to wear some shorts and a sleeveless top, so she hoped there weren't too many people out of bed.

She padded bare-foot down the stairs and across to the kitchen. She pushed open the door to shout of 'I'm doing it, I'm doing it'

She nearly jumped out of her skin in shock and just stared at Reno as if he were mad. He was sitting at the breakfast bar with a stack of paper in front of him and a pen in his hand.

'Oh,' he said at the sight of her, 'sorry about that. Thought you were Tseng'

Sarah just shook her head disbelievingly and walked into the kitchen.

'I didn't think anyone else would be up' she said to him

'Well I'm going to be up all night' he said grumpily, and in response to Sarah's raised eyebrows he added, 'Tseng's making me catch up with all the paperwork I've missed'

Sarah just laughed at how pathetic he looked.

'Hey, it's not funny yo!' he said indignantly, 'it pure abuse!'

'Suuuure it is,' Sarah rolled her eyes

'It is' he persisted, 'he said I'm not allowed to sleep until it's all done!'

Sarah simply chuckled, 'well maybe you should get it done on time then from now on,'

Reno was about to respond when his stomach gave a loud growl.

'Oh, shut up,' he said to it

'First sign of madness, talking to your stomach' she grinned and he scowled, 'did he say you're not allowed to eat either?'

'Yup, he said I'm not allowed to wasted time making food' he said miserably, but Sarah grinned, what are you grinning at?'

She shook her head and went to stick the kettle on. She got two cups out of the cupboard as well as two plates. She then got the milk and some bacon out of the fridge and set about making tea and bacon sandwiches.

Reno, who had his back to her, groaned, 'Why are you so evil?' he wailed and banged his head on the table. Sarah laughed once again.

'I just enjoy it so much!'

A few minutes later, Reno was still complaining and Sarah had finished making the food.

'Do you like torturing me? Cos' you're doing a very good job- huh?'

Sarah had just put a cup of tea and a plate of bacon sandwiches next to him. He started at her, clueless.

'It's called food,' she joked, 'you're supposed to eat it'

He jumped up comically fast and pulled Sarah into a bone crushing hug. He pulled away slightly

'I,' he kissed her cheek,

'love,' he kissed her other cheek,

'you' he kissed her lips.

Sarah was so shocked by this that she didn't pull away and Reno held the kiss for a second longer than he should have.

Finally he pulled away, blushing and looked unsure.

'So, er, what are you like in a restaurant then?' she laughed nervously.

Reno also laughed, but more out of relief than anything else.

'Well eat up!' she said walking over to get her tea and sandwiches.

Reno flopped back down onto his stool and took a massive bite out of a sandwich

'Oh Gaia,' he sighed happily, 'foooooood!'

Sarah sat down opposite him and chuckled

They spent the next fifteen minutes in a comfortable silence eating, drinking, and in Reno's case, working.

_'_So, er Reno,' Sarah said, 'I was going to ask you earlier-'

'I really don't think I should be the one you're asking about this,' Reno cut across her

'Huh? How did you know what I was going to say?'

Reno sighed and looked at her, 'you were going to ask about your parents weren't you?'

'Well... I... it's just... I need to know,' she said quietly and looked down at the table.

'Look,' he said, reaching forward and taking hold of her hand, 'I know that this must be hard on you, but I really can't tell you anything'

Sarah looked down at their joined hands

'Then who can?' she asked sadly

But before Reno could answer the door opened behind her and someone walked in.

Reno nodded to whoever just entered and said 'He can.'

'Shouldn't you be working Reno,'

Sarah whipped round at the sound of Tseng's voice. He too was still in his uniform but he had loosened his tie a little and he looked slightly tired.

Her heart pounded painfully at the sight of him and she felt as though she had lost the ability to talk. She glanced back at Reno, who simply nodded at her before resuming his work

She turned back around and opened her mouth to try and say something, but Tseng held up his hand to stop her

'Come with me,' he said and turned out of the room. Reno gave her another little reassuring nod before she hurried out after Tseng.

They walked into the dark main living area and Tseng led her to a secluded corner with a couple of chairs next to each other. He motioned for her to sit down then took the remaining seat himself, turning on a lamp on a nearby stand.

All of a sudden Sarah felt very bare in her skimpy little pyjamas.

Tseng looked at her steadily for a moment before speaking in his usual calm voice,

'I realise that I have a lot of explaining to do, and all I can ask for is that you hear me out'

Sarah nodded as a sign that she would listen and he continued.

'I may as well start with my most recent offence,' he said with a wry smile, 'I stopped you from talking with Reno earlier because I knew what you were going to ask him about, and I thought it would be best if you heard it from me.'

Sarah didn't say anything; she just sat there with baited breath, waiting for him to find the right words to say.

'I told Reno this at the ball,' he looked guilty at the memory of it and Sarah frowned, 'just before we were attacked. I've been trying to find a way to tell you this without hurting you, but...'

He faltered for a moment and cast his eyes round the room,

'Fourteen years ago, I was on my first mission for Shinra. I was just a boy, younger than you are now. It was a simple task of infiltrating SHARK, to find out a bit more about them. My orders were very clear; do not get let anyone know I am with Shinra, act as one of them.'

Tseng looked her straight in the eye

'Your father was a weapons designer for Shinra. SHARK captured you and your parents in an attempt to get designs. They tortured both of your parents to get your father to talk. He handed over the information they wanted before they started doing anything to you.'

Tears began rolling down Sarah's cheeks but she paid them no attention.

'I was then ordered to kill all three of you. I killed your parents. I had to. But then the leader of SHARK D.Z entered and told me to spare your life. I had no idea of what they were planning to do with you...'

Sarah's mind had gone numb. Tseng was the reason her parents were dead? The reason she had been brought up by Wutai? She felt sickened; she had fell in love with this man, and he had even kissed her – her parent's murderer!

But wait, no... if it hadn't been Tseng, it would have been somebody else, right? So is he really to blame...?

She looked up at Tseng who was watching her carefully, a pained expression in his eyes.

'So is that why you, er... um, is that....'

'Why I walked away?' he finished quietly and she nodded, 'yes, partly. I also felt that I was taking advantage of you'

Sarah frowned at him.

'You're young Sarah...' he started to explain

'I'm not stupid,' she cut across him

'I know you're not, but you have to understand,' his voice broke and he looked very close to tears, 'I look at you and I see the girl who I could so easily fall in love with... but I also see the daughter of the first two people I killed.'

'B-but that wasn't your fault,' she stammered through her tears, 'if it hadn't been you it would have been somebody else'

'I know, but it doesn't change the fact that it _was_ me'

Sarah was at a loss of what to say. She wanted to convince him that it wasn't his fault and that it shouldn't change anything between them.

'I know what you want' Tseng said quietly and Sarah looked him in the eye, 'but I don't think it can ever happen between us. I'm sorry'

These words pierced her heart like a knife and she felt a new wave of tears rise up in her. There was such finality to them...

'And, if circumstances were different...?'

Tseng looked at her seriously, a small smile on his lips and a slight longing in his eyes

'There wouldn't be a trace of doubt in my mind,'

* * *

They stayed up talking for a while after that, just to take each other's mind off things. There was a mutual understanding between them now everything was out in the open; get on as normal, don't look back.

When they finally went to bed, it wasn't really any surprise that Sarah didn't sleep that night. She stayed up in her room mulling over everything that Tseng had said to her, and also when Reno had kissed her.

He had blushed when he pulled away. He should have just put it off as a joke and ate his sandwiches, but no, he blushed – it was the most un-Reno-like thing he could have done.

'It was probably because of the whole Tseng situation' she told herself and pushed it to the back of her mind.

She got up earlier than usual in the morning and headed straight down to the gym – it was one of the few places she really liked being because it was always empty.

As usual she began with stretching and then went over to the treadmill. She smiled as she recalled the day she and Genesis first spoke – she, him, Angeal and Zack had got into a lot of trouble from Sephiroth that day.

She half wished Genesis would show up again today...

But he didn't. She supposed she was the only person who used the gym at this time of the morning.

When it was time for breakfast she headed towards the mess hall and sat with Ross and Cloud.

'Hey,' the boys said as she sat down

'I hope you're not too busy eating to notice how miraculously clean the mess hall is today,' she smile wryly

'You had to scrub the place out didn't you?' Cloud laughed

'Every last inch' she replied bitterly, 'I'm telling you, your beloved General is nothing short of a slave driver!'

'Well you were chucking food around,' he chuckled

'Hey, come off It! Who's side are you on?'

'Errr, no comment'

'_Cloud!'_

'That's my name'

'_Grrr'_

'_Meow'_

'_Woof'_

'_Moooo'_

'_Oink'_

'_Squark!'_

'Always knew you were a chocobo at heart Cloud'

At this Ross burst out laughing.

'You two are clinically insane, you know that?'

'I don't know what you mean,' Sarah said innocently whilst Cloud snorted into his cereal.

* * *

_**Well, what do you think,**_

_**Please Review, I just want one little review before I update!**_

_**Like I said, tell me whether you think I should carry on with my own story or use the Crisis Core plot and lose poor Genesis :(**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_

_**xx**_


	20. Chapter 20

_**The option is still open as to whether or not I follow the Crisis core plot or not, so if you have an opinion let me know before it's too late :)**_ **_enjoy the chapter!_**

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**Chapter 20**

After breakfast, Sarah received a phone call from slave-driver Sephiroth telling her to meet him in the training room in an hour, and to find Zack and bring him along.

To be honest, she wasn't too enthusiastic about having to train with him again, especially if the other three ditched her like yesterday, but thankfully she had come up with a plan to prevent that from happening.

So, it was with an evil grin on her face that she found Zack and brought him to the level 49 training room. When he asked her what she was grinning for she simply shook her head and carried on walking. By the time they reached their destination, Zack was beginning to feel very scared of the girl walking next to him.

They arrived to find Angeal, Sephiroth and Genesis already there and waiting for them.

'Good, we're all here,' Angeal said as they came up to them

'And hopefully we'll all stay here this time,' Sephiroth muttered, casting his friends a disgruntled look. Angeal grinned and Zack scratched the back of his head nervously. Genesis already looked like he was planning something.

'Oh, I don't think them leaving will be a problem today,' Sarah said with the same evil grin on her face. The other four looked at her, rather amused.

'Really?' Sephiroth asked as Genesis chuckled.

'Oh yes,' she smiled sweetly, 'do you want to know why?'

Sephiroth raised his eyebrows while the other three were becoming worried by her slightly manic behaviour

'Go on,' the amusement in Sephiroth's voice was evident

'Because,' she said, her grin growing wider, 'I've spent the last hour coming up with suitable punishments for those who try and leave'

At this Genesis, Angeal and Zack burst out laughing, and even Sephiroth chuckled

'Oh, I'm not joking here' she said dangerously, and as their laughter died down she continued, 'do you want to know what will happen should you leave?'

'Okay then,' Genesis smirked, obviously humouring her. Sarah grinned sadistically

'Zack,' she turned to him, he raised his eyebrows, 'I will tell dear sweet Josie in accounting that you really, _really _like her and that you would like to go out on a date'

'You wouldn't,' he gasped, genuinely horrified 'she's bad enough already,'

'Yes, I will,' she smirked, 'and I will also give her your phone number, address, and a list of all the places you like to hang out,'

Zack's Jaw dropped comically. Clearly he thought this was a suitable enough punishment so she moved onto the next person.

'Genesis,' she said to the red-head who was still snickering, 'if you try and leave today, Scarlet may just receive an anonymous love letter from a certain SOLDIER 1st class saying just _how much_ he wants her and how her affections are wholly reciprocated'

Whatever he had been planning to do today quickly vanished from his head, and his eyes widened considerably.

'And finally, Angeal,' she turned to the dark haired man, who was still smirking, 'it was hard to think of something for you because not a lot seems to _annoy_ you'

Angeal's smirk vanished as he saw where she was heading

'But finally I decided on this; I will feed our good friend Zack here so much sugar that he can't sit still for a microsecond, and then I will lock the two of you in a room together for a whole day!'

Judging by his expression, that threat was way below the belt.

'Huh?' Zack pouted to Angeal, 'I'm not annoying am I?'

'Um...' Angeal froze, 'you have nice hair Zack'

Sarah let out a shriek of laughter and Sephiroth turned away to hide his grin. Genesis was bent double laughing.

'Huh?'

'That s-sounded so gay!' Sarah gasped through her laughter

'What!?' Zack looked really confused

'Angeal, my friend,' Genesis said sombrely, barely able to keep a straight face as he placed a hand on his friends shoulder, 'is there something you need to tell us?'

Sarah fell forward onto he hands and knees and started beating the floor with her fist whilst unable to breathe though laughing.

The others caught sight of her and began laughing even harder. Even Sephiroth was finding it hard not to laugh.

'I c-can't breathe!' she chocked and Zack laughed even harder then fell over onto his butt

Sephiroth chuckled and watched the girl on the floor with a smile on his face. It was somehow refreshing to see her like that.

He knew for sure that before Sarah had come to Shinra none of them had laughed like this before; Genesis was bent double and even Angeal was laughing heartily. Zack was rolling about on the floor holding his stomach whilst Sarah was still on all fours laughing so hard she couldn't make a sound. It was actually hard to tell whether she was laughing or crying.

Now he could see why she kept doing really stupid things – if it made you feel like this every time, he may even start having food fights in the mess hall and running round with a blindfold on. That would be a sight – the cold reserved General of the Shinra army running round like a child.

Perhaps Sarah was a bad influence on him...

Another couple of minutes passed before Sarah was able to move. Zack got to his feet a little unsteadily and Sarah raised herself up on her knees holding her ribs. They laughed again when they saw tears running down her face

'Oh god...' she laughed as she wiped them away, 'my ribs hurt!'

'My cheeks hurt,' Zack whined, rubbing his face

'My ego hurts,' Angeal grumbled.

This probably wasn't the best thing to say as Sarah started laughing again

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,' she clutched at her ribs desperately

She tried really hard to compose herself and stand up but just ended up falling over backwards. The other four laughed more as she looked up at them pathetically.

'I can't move' she mouthed through her tears of laughter.

She caught Sephiroth's eye and then suddenly looked away blushing. Was this really the time to notice how bloody gorgeous he was?

He had been looking at her with a smile on his face. It seemed to soften him up. There was something else in his eyes as well as laughter though, which had sent a shock through her body and caused her already flushed face to heat up even more.

She had seen him smile before, but never like that. He looked as though he was really enjoying himself. And they way he looked at her... almost as if he was fond of her. She had never really thought of herself as more than acquainted with the General since it was usually Angeal, Zack and Genesis she talked to, and especially after yesterday when they barely said a word to one another.

Yet, now, here they all were, laughing merrily as if they were the five best friends in the world.

Sarah made a move to get up but her arms were too weak to lift herself up off the ground and she fell back down with another laugh

She heard footsteps approach her and looked up and saw, to her surprise, Sephiroth smiling down at her offering her his hand.

She accepted it carefully he pulled her to her feet gently. He let go of her hand almost reluctantly. Off to the side Angeal and Genesis were grinning to themselves.

'Thanks,' Sarah muttered and blushed even more when their eyes met.

Zack cocked his head to the side, but unlike the other two didn't; keep his opinions to himself

'Awww,' he grinned, 'you two look really cu-'

WHACK!

'Ow! What the hell? _Angeal!_'

Angeal has just whacked the poor guy around the head in an attempt to shut him up.

Sarah and Sephiroth turned round at his exclamation and chuckled.

'I was just gonna say-' Zack began

'Well let's start shall we,' Genesis said loudly and pulled out his sword, glaring menacingly at Zack

Sarah and Sephiroth just started at the three of them as if they were crazy.

'I wish they would leave _today,_' Sephiroth found himself thinking as he glanced at Sarah who looked slightly disappointed and embarrassed at their interruption.

However he just nodded and they began.

'I know you can fight well when you are by yourself and facing one opponent,' Sephiroth began, thinking of their training session yesterday, 'but you must also be able to fight multiple opponents and fight with teammates; so that's why we have everyone here'

Sarah just nodded – this could get messy, she thought apprehensively.

'But don't worry,' he added, as if sensing her concern, 'we won't be aiming to hurt you'

'Right,' she said

'Genesis, seeing as you're ready, care to start sparring with Sarah?' Sephiroth said, looking at the sword in Genesis' hand.

He nodded and grinned reassuringly at the girl. Sarah returned the smile and drew her own sword – a simple but strong Katana. Sephiroth loaded a simple field as their battle ground and they began.

Just like yesterday, Sarah was finding it hard to adjust to her new strength and speed, but she felt she was getting the hang of it the longer she fought with Genesis.

After a few minutes of watching them, Sephiroth was impressed by the way she'd improved since only yesterday – her form was better and she was becoming more sure of herself.

'Enough' he said finally, and they both stopped.

'Right now we'll divide into two teams' he said, 'Angeal, Genesis and Zack. You three will verse Sarah and me.'

Angeal and Genesis shared small smile and Zack looked at them bewildered,

'What are you smiling for,' he asked, 'we're screwed!'

They shook their heads lightly and took their place opposite the other two in time to hear Sarah say to Sephiroth.

'You're evil; you know that, pure evil!'

They exchanged glances quickly before they started to fight.

It began with Angeal and Genesis going for Sephiroth and Zack for Sarah, but barely five second had gone when Zack was switched for Genesis. No sooner as she had managed to bat him a few feet away then Angeal and Zack closed in on her, leaving Sephiroth to take care of Genesis.

Thankfully, Sarah had always been naturally speedy so fighting two people at once was easier than she had expected. But the Sephiroth made it even harder by engaging Zack and Sarah ended up fighting Angeal and Genesis.

Two seconds later she was forced to duck as Zack was sent flying her way and Sephiroth disappeared.

'EVIL!' she screamed as Zack joined in the assault on Sarah

Their arrangement was that Sephiroth would start off by helping her and then leave her by herself after a while; she just hadn't expected him to abandon her so quickly.

Now, fighting two 1st class soldiers and one 2nd class was no mean feat.

Angeal and Zack attacked simultaneously so she flipped backwards to avoid them, only to be attacked by Genesis in the air. He struck hard and sent her flying higher into the air and jumped after her. Their swords clashed for a few seconds as they sailed upwards before Sarah managed to bat him back towards the ground.

She had barely landed on the grassy surface herself when Zack and Genesis attacked form either side. She jumped back quickly and then engaged them, as Angeal came up behind her.

Luckily she noticed him just in time to block his attack and send him skidding backward before she turned back to Zack and Genesis. She avoided their attacks and managed to get on the other side of them so she could see all three of her opponents.

Angeal jumped in the air and attacked from the air as the other two attacked from in front of her. She released a powerful attack and sent the three men flying backwards. Angeal managed to land neatly on his feet, Genesis skidded but stayed upright but Zack landed on his back but scramble up quickly enough.

Sephiroth watched the fight in progress and couldn't help but be impressed; it seemed Sarah was rising to the challenge of fighting three experienced SOLDIER's. He suddenly frowned – if all of SHARK was this strong they could have a problem on their hands.

But hadn't Sarah said that she had always been the best before the enhancements started working? So maybe now that Hojo had modified it to work for girls, Sarah would be the strongest again; if that was the case then it wouldn't be so bad.

After a few more minutes he called for them to stop.

Sarah had never been so glad to stop fighting.

She sighed in relief and Genesis clapped her on the shoulder.

'You were great' he smiled down at her

'Yeah, you were' Zack agreed, looking rather impressed. Angeal nodded in approval.

'Thanks' she blushed, then glanced at Sephiroth who was walking over, 'I'm still gonna kill him though' she laughed

She caught Genesis' eye and shared identical grins. They looked at the other two and they nodded. The four of them turned to face the Silver-haired man. No sooner had he reached them then the others exchanged a quick glance and attacked at the same time.

He raised his sword too quickly for them and sent them back. Zack and Angeal got the worst of it and were sent flying, Sarah and Genesis only skidded backwards and attacked again quickly.

It felt exhilarating; to be duelling properly like this. Whilst in the cadets, for the most part, she had been too good for her opponents and in Wutai she barely got a chance to fight back.

About thirty seconds later after a few more exchanged glances, Genesis, Zack and Angeal disappeared leaving her to fight Sephiroth by herself.

'I'm gonna kill them' she groaned as Sephiroth smiled evilly.

However, once again she surprised herself with how well she did but still thanked the heavens when Sephiroth's phone rang.

He ended the simulation and answered it while Sarah went over to the other three and attempted to kill them as quietly as possible.

When Sephiroth hung up he turned around t see Sarah had jumped onto Genesis' back and was pulling his hair while the other two laughed at his feeble attempts to throw her off.

'Well, one thing is for sure,' he mused as he watched the scene, 'she's definitely able to bring out anybody's inner child'

He chuckled as Genesis tried to peel her legs off him, which she had wrapped round his waist to hold on to him. He still didn't like the fact that Sarah and Genesis were all over each other all of the time, but as far as he could see, she didn't have any romantic feelings for him... yet.

Who was to say what would happen when she got over that Turk.

Just then, Sarah's phone also went off. She reluctantly slid of Genesis' back to fish it out of her pocket.

'Hello?' she said into it

'Sarah?' came a calm voice

'Yeah. Hey Tseng,' she said cheerfully as she recognised his voice, 'you sound different on the phone'

She didn't notice Sephiroth stiffen at how happily she greeted him – he was wandering if they had made amends.

Tseng chuckled and Sarah's legs turned to jelly – she swore his laugh was lethal or something.

'Director Lazard wants to see you in the briefing room,'

'Okay, thanks'

'And also,' he continued, 'Reno would like to know if you'll join us for another game of poker tonight, seeing how the last time we played was so fun'

She swore she could hear him roll his eyes, yet she still giggled and blushed slightly

'Yeah, sure,' she smiled, 'I'd love to'

'Good,' he said, sounding genuinely happy, before hanging up the phone

Sarah closed her own phone still smiling slightly, unaware of how that conversation had sounded to the other four in the room.

Sephiroth was expressionless, Angeal was looked cautious, Zack was grinning and Genesis had his eyebrows raised.

'What?' she asked, nonplussed

'So the two of you talked it out then?' Genesis grinned, but she thought it seemed rather forced, but she ignored it.

'Yeah, last night,' she smiled,

'Really?' Genesis said

'Mmm-Hmm. I couldn't sleep so I went to get a drink and he was still up so we got to talking. We were only talking for about half an hour or so, but still, I didn't get much sleep after that,' she said, not really realising how that had sounded.

She caught sight of Zack who was grinning broadly

'So... you just went straight up to bed after you finished talking, did you?' he snickered and Sarah looked at him as if he were mad.

'Er, yeah,' she said like she was pointing out the obvious. Zack let out a snort of laughter.

Angeal and Genesis exchanged glances, and looked to where Sephiroth had been fuming a couple of seconds ago, but he had left the room without anyone noticing.

'What?' She asked impatiently, and then it struck her

'Zack, you sick son of a lizard!' she yelped and jumped on him and began pulling his hair, 'I did not sleep with Tseng!'

'Okay! Okay!' he laughed, 'I was only joking!'

'Good!' she huffed and slid of his back, giving his hair one last tug for good measure

'So, are you two together then?' Genesis asked.

Sarah couldn't understand why he was being so strange about this.

'No,' she said, and the others looked quite shocked, 'we stayed up talking about how it would never happen between us. Ever!'

She suddenly felt hot tears well up in her eyes and turned away before they fell.

Genesis and Zack looked guilty.

'Sarah?' Genesis said, cautiously approaching her. He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder but she shook it off and left the room quickly without another word.

'Somebody should tell Sephiroth before he does something stupid,' Angeal said quietly

Zack's eyes travelled between the two of them and the door for a moment as he frowned. Then it hit him and his eyes became as wide as dinner plates.

Angeal noticed this and said menacingly, 'say anything to anyone and I'll kill you!'

* * *

Sarah stormed along the corridors towards the briefing room.

'Stupid damn idiots,' she muttered, 'what the hell gives them the right...'

She stomped onto the floor where the briefing room was

'And what the bloody hell happened to Sephiroth?' she thought angrily, 'most people would have the decency to tell their friends they're leaving.'

She paused for a minute outside the room and made sure her eyes were dry before entering, hoping that no-one would notice she had been crying.

Lazard was sitting at the head of the table and Tseng was standing just to his right. Sephiroth was leaning against the far wall, glaring at the floor. Reno, Rude and Cissnei were also there, standing by the opposite wall. Cissnei was casting anxious glances towards the angry General as if afraid he might go on a killing spree.

The three of them smiled as she entered and she smiled back, and then walked over to stand next to Tseng. She hated how her heart would race as soon as she was in the same room as him.

'Ah Sarah, you're here,' Director Lazard said, 'I'm afraid we've got some disturbing news'

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_**Okay, so there's chapter 20 for you.**_

_**I would just like to thank all the people who have reviewed on my story so far!**_

_**Also, don't forget to say whether I should foolow the crisis core plot or not, if you haven't already. If there's a clear majority I'll do it that way, but if there isn't we'll just have to see where this goes!**_


	21. Chapter 21

**Okay, Well I'd like to start off by thanking you all for the reviews – OVER 100! - They've helped me loads. I have finally decided the direction in which my story is going but I'm not going to spoil it for you so you're going to have to sit tight and wait lol!**

**Anyway, here we go with Chapter 21...**

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Sarah's stomach clenched automatically – whatever it was, it had to be bad to be called 'disturbing news' in the middle of a war.

She glanced unconsciously at Tseng whose face was impassive as usual, unknowingly provoking a clenched fist and surge of anger from the silver-haired General. His green eyes glared at the floor, maybe hard enough to burn a hole in it.

'What's happened?' She asked surprisingly calmly considering she had been shaking with tears and fury just moments ago.

Director Lazard sighed and tuned back to his computer,

'I think it's best if I just show you,' he said heavily, and clicked a few buttons in front of him causing a short piece of footage to be played on the large monitor.

Sarah thought she was going to vomit.

It was a video of a dark, damp and dingy cell with a group of young girls bound, starving and beaten. The younger ones were crying and the oldest looked as though she was only hanging onto life by a thread.

It was them.

She had been looking for them for so long...

Annabelle, only about 4 years old; Connie and Tessie, they would be nine now; Alexis, who was sixteen and Jennifer who was seventeen.

Then a voice spoke on the recording. It was a voice that she knew well.

'If you ever want to see them alive again, come on over to Wutai'

'Tyler...' Sarah breathed, her tear filled eyes fixated on the screen.

Her fists clenched.

'When did we receive this?' She asked as calmly as was possible

'About half an hour ago' Lazard replied, 'The details have already been sent to the President so we can authorise a rescue mission.'

'Huh?' Sarah hadn't been expecting this. She thought she would have to go on her own even if it meant defying Shinra in the process.

Lazard raised his eyebrows at her.

'They _are _civilians aren't they?' he asked with a small smile, 'and they are the closest thing you've got to family; you grew up together. Besides, we don't like the idea of Wutai having such a pull over you – we don't want you wandering off by yourself to rescue them and falling into a trap'

Sarah simply started at him for a moment, and then smiled in relief.

'Damn,' she said jokingly, 'seems you know me better than I thought,'

Lazard chuckled slightly.

Sarah's eyes turned back to the monitor and she drew in a deep shaky breath. She was nervous – after all this time she could finally get them back. It all depended on this one mission.

Lazard's computer beeped as he received a message from the President.

'Right everyone,' he spoke up, 'We'll assemble a team and meet back here in two hours for your briefing. This mission has been given top priority.'

They nodded.

'You are dismissed'

Sarah turned to leave but suddenly halted in her tracks

'Wait a minute,' she said and all eyes turned to her in surprise, 'what about Wutai's plans to attack Midgar?'

'I assure you that this mission will be over before that time comes' Lazard replied reassuringly, but Sarah wasn't convinced.

'What if this is all a set up?' she asked

'What do you mean?'

'Look, we get Intel that Wutai are planning an attack for tomorrow, and then this happens just the day before. Wutai know that you won't let them have a hand over me and that you'll send high level operatives to retrieve the girls... there are about a hundred different traps we could be walking into here! And do you even know where the girls are being kept?'

Lazard sighed sadly.

'I assure you we have thought through the consequences and we are positive that the girls are being kept in an underground base in Wutai.'

Sarah just stared at him, stumped.

'We never go into a mission unprepared Sarah' Lazard said

Sarah turned her head away in shame, her eyes refilling with tears.

'I know,' she choked as a tear slid down her cheek, 'It's just I thought they were all dead and... I'm sorry'

Lazard simply nodded, and she turned around and walked out of the room by herself; she just needed some time away from the people in that room.

She wondered vaguely where Angeal, Genesis and Zack were. They may still be in the Level 49 training room, but they probably would have left after she and Sephiroth had been called away.

Unconsciously, her feet carried her towards the gym where she usually spent her free time. She looked around with a small smile as she entered, thinking of all the fond, albeit, strange memories, not noticing that two people had followed her down there.

One of them entered the gym after her, while the other waited quietly outside, out of site.

Sarah walked into the middle of the gym when a voice spoke out from behind her, and she turned around in shock.

'I hear you made it into SOLDIER' Daniel Zelner said walking casually towards her.

Sarah looked at him, not knowing what to think, but her gut told her that something bad was about to happen so she played it cool.

'Yeah I did,' she said simply and looked at what clothes he was wearing, 'and by the looks of it so did you'

'Yes,' he said lazily, 'I did exceedingly good, if I do say so myself,'

Sarah refrained from rolling her eyes as he began to check his nails in a bored manner.

'Get to the point Zelner,' she sighed heavily

'Ah,' he pouted sarcastically, 'always pushing me away, I feel as though you may not like me,'

'Zelner!' she said dangerously.

'Oh, very well then,' he said and began slowly pacing towards her again as he began to speak in a sly voice. 'I heard whispers from one little birdie to another that you haven't been such a good girl'

Sarah frowned, 'What?'

'You haven't been completely honest with the President Sarah,' he cooed and Sarah's stomach clenched.

Did the President suspect something?

'What are you talking about?' she spat at him

'Well... a couple of things actually. Firstly, seeing as you're in SOLDIER and have already received your treatments, the question arises to why you and your little Shinra friends aren't dead yet'

Sarah felt as though she had just been punched in the stomach. Her eyes had widened and she hardly dared to breathe.

'What did you say?' she breathed. Zelner chuckled, clearly enjoying himself.

'And secondly,' he continued as if she hadn't interrupted, 'what were you doing in Edge that was so important that you couldn't tell the President, but somehow Sephiroth and Angeal Hewley know but haven't said anything.'

'How- How do you-'she stammered

'Oh come on now Sarah it isn't that hard!' he laughed, 'I'll even give you a clue; my father's name is Demetrio'

'Huh?' her mind was blank. She watched him sneer at her for a couple of seconds, and then it hit her like a ton of bricks

'Demetrio Zelner' she breathed, '_D.Z!_ You're his son!'

He just laughed.

'I took you long enough to figure it out! I am with SHARK, not SOLDIER,'

Sarah knew what she had to do – she couldn't let him leave now. She grabbed her sword and unsheathed it.

Zelner just glanced at it, unaffected.

'I'm not here to fight you; I'm here to offer you an ultimatum'

Sarah frowned but said nothing.

'Either you return to Wutai now and see your little friends again, or we'll kill you now'

'Err... who's 'we'?'

Just then the second person stepped into the room and Sarah took a step back in shock – it was instructor Giovanni Keller.

'What the hell is going on here?' she muttered, her eyes flitting between the two of them

Keller then spoke in a business like tone

'The SOLDIER treatments should have killed you and you should have killed a lot of other people by now. We don't know how you managed to survive the mako treatments and still receive the status of Soldier 3rd class, but that doesn't matter now.'

'That's right,' Zelner continued, 'I'm sure you've just seen the footage of your friends we sent to Shinra, so you have your proof that they are still alive. If you come with us now, they will stay that way.'

'It seems I don't have a choice then, do I?' she said quietly to the floor. Zelner and Keller both smirked. Her eyes shot up and glared at them,

'I'm never going back to Wutai!' she shouted and with her sword in hand she launched herself at them.

Obviously, Wutai hadn't been expecting much of her when they ordered the two of them to bring her in. Compared to fighting Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis and Zack, fighting the two of them was child's play, but that's not to say that it was a quick fight.

Zelner had never been a really easy match, and when paired up with Keller, they made a pretty effective team. Zelner was speedier, but Keller attacked with brute force and loathing. However, even though her training had been short, it had prepared her for this sort of combination. After all, she had managed to duel Sephiroth for about twenty seconds, which had to count for something, right?

The fight came to an abrupt end – Sarah managed to send Keller flying into Zelner midway through and air attack and they both hit off the opposite wall with a sickening crack, and fell unconscious onto the floor.

Sarah stared across at them, her heart racing. She almost couldn't believe what had happened. Daniel Zelner was D.Z's son, and even instructor Keller was a part of SHARK, or maybe just with Wutai. It didn't really matter either way; they were one in the same.

'The President,' she muttered, 'I have to tell the President'

Without wasting another second Sarah sheathed her sword and ran as fast as she could out of the gym and towards the elevator, which she took up to his office.

'This is just too much for one day,' she thought as the elevator ascended, 'it's not even lunch yet...'

After what seemed an age to her racing mind, the doors slid open o the right floor and she ran towards Shinra's office, ignoring the shout from his secretary saying he was busy.

She reached the door and knocked loudly, not waiting for a reply before she burst in.

Four people, Sephiroth, Tseng, Lazard and Shinra looked at her in surprise as she ran up to the President's desk.

'I'm in the middle of a meeting,' Shinra snapped at her before she had a chance to speak

'Yes sir I know that but-'

'Whatever you have to say can wait,' he said loudly

'No sir, it can't!' She began again but he cut across her again

'General would you please escort her out!'

Sephiroth made to reach for her arm but to their surprise she batted it away angrily and all but screamed, '_SHARK are in Shinra! I've just fought two of them, and God knows if there are any more!'_

They all looked at her for a second before Shinra spoke

'When was this,'

'About two minutes ago with the time it took me to get up here' she said

'Where?'

'In the gym, and hopefully they're still unconscious in there.'

'You didn't kill them?' The General asked lightly

Sarah looked at him; was he mocking her?

'I'm no expert,' she said through gritted teeth, her blazing eyes meeting his cool ones, 'but I don't believe the dead are able to talk.'

'Good thinking- we need information,' Shinra said and Sarah shot a contemptuous glance at Sephiroth, 'Did you recognise them?'

'Yes sir, I did,' she sighed, 'It was SOLDIER third class Daniel Zelner and Instructor Giovanni Keller,'

Shinra's eyebrows shot up

'You're sure about this?' he asked

'Yes, I have known them for quite a while after all!' she said impatiently, but Shinra shook his head frowning,

'Are you sure they are with SKARK?'

'_Yes!_' she said again, 'they knew everything; about the experiments, the bases and even the video that was sent here of my friends! They wanted to take me back to Wutai now, or they would kill me and my friends!'

He looked at her calculatingly for a second before turning to Sephiroth and Tseng

'General, go and see if they are still in the gym and if not organise a search of the building and the city.'

Sephiroth nodded and turned quickly and left

'Tseng,' Shinra continued, 'If they are apprehended, I want them interrogated, and also, see if there is any footage of what happened today,'

Tseng also nodded and left without a word

'We'll wait for the General to report back and then decide what to do' Shinra said. Lazard nodded in agreement but Sarah spoke

'Sir, I can't wait to go and rescue them, I have to leave now before they realise something is wrong and have them killed,'

'I'm not totally without sympathy,' he replied, 'but right now we don't have any idea where they are being held,'

Sarah rounded on Lazard angrily,

'You said you _did_ know!'

'I'm afraid I was only trying to calm you down, this must be a very trying time for you and-'

'Well you're not making it any easier!' she snapped but received a warning glare from the President.

Sarah exhaled angrily and began to pace back and forth in front of the desk. The room remained in an uncomfortable silence until the President received a message from the General.

'We have managed to apprehend Instructor Keller, but it seems that Daniel Zelner has escaped' Shinra said, then he turned to Lazard

'I want you to organise a rescue team, make sure they are reliable. Have them on standby until the Turks finish the interrogation,'

'Yes sir,' Lazard said before he also left the room

Once the door closed behind him, Shinra turned to Sarah once again, who was feeling quite nervous at being left alone with him after practically screaming in his face.

'I want to ask you some questions,' he told her and she nodded stiffly. 'First of all, how did you find the battle?'

Sarah sighed heavily; she knew that he was going to ask that.

'Well it was a heck of a lot easier than training with a bunch of first class SOLDIER's' she said, 'but they were good fighters.'

'Do you think they will pose much of a threat to SOLDIER?'

Sarah thought about this for a moment.

'I'd say that at the very least 1st class SOLDIER's would be fine, but hat is just a guess because I'm not sure how good the two of them are compared to the rest of SHARK.'

'I see...' he said

'But I know this for a fact – Tyler is way stronger than the two of them put together, after all, he was the first successful experiment and so must have had more time to adjust, and most likely better mentors,'

Shinra just nodded silently and sunk into thought for a moment

'There may come a time,' he said eventually, and seemed to be picking his words very carefully, 'when I may ask you to do something for me,'

Sarah looked at him confused; what the hell was he on about?

'Something,' he continued, 'that you won't like at all'

Sarah now had an ominous feeling growing inside of her. Shinra sighed and looked her directly in the eye

'I may ask you to defect to Wutai,'

* * *

_**Right, I'm sorry this is so short and that I haven't updated in so long but I am in the middle of taking my exams and I'm kind of feeling the pressure, so I'll have to ask you to be patient.**_

_**However, I only have a couple of exams left and since I have finished secondary school I have an extended summer holidays this year so I can write as much as I like! **_

_**Yay!**_

_**Thank you for reading.**_

_**UnchainedMelody94  
**_


	22. Chapter 22

**Well here is chapter 22! Thank you to the people who have reviewed - your comments are appreciated! This chapter isn't ver good - it's kind of just a filler and a clue as to what is to come, but I hope you enjoy reading it anyway xx**

* * *

'Oh boy...' Sarah muttered as she paced back and forth in her room, running her hands agitatedly through her hair, 'Oh boy, oh boy oh boy...'

It had been ten minutes since her meeting with the President and she had just arrived back in her quarters, her head spinning.

The interrogation of Giovanni Keller was underway, and a search of the building and city was being organised. Everything was just happening so fast, and yet things weren't happening fast enough.

It was barely lunch time, and already Sarah had had one of the most exhausting days of her life. Firstly, she had training with Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis and Zack, and for some reason Sephiroth had stormed out and seemed angry with her.

After that she was called to watch a video of the Girls she had grown up with in a Wutian base, starved and beaten, with Tyler's voice telling her to defect to Wutai or have them suffer their own deaths, and thirdly she had been engaged in combat with Daniel Zelner, the leader of SHARK's son, and Instructor Giovanni Keller, who had also turned out to be working with Wutai.

Now Sarah was waiting to hear something from Lazard, the President or even Tseng about the progression of the interrogation, and if the location of the five girls had been confirmed so they could go and rescue them.

Furthermore, Sarah was worried that there may be more Wutai operatives in Shinra. President Shinra had said he would look into the matter, but Sarah wondered whether he would look far enough. For some reason he just didn't seem to understand the full severity of the situation.

If there were more Wutian operatives working in Shinra, then the attack the Wutai were planning could be carried out on two fronts – from the outside and from within!

Sarah sank down on her bed and rested her head on her hands. Why did things have to get so complicated? Would everything have turned out this bad if Sarah hadn't joined Shinra? Or would it be worse if she had stayed with Wutai...

* * *

'Hey Ross!' Cloud called to his friend as he caught up to him, and the brown haired infantryman turned to him, 'Have you been selected for that mission that no-body knows when it is?'

'Yup,' Ross said, 'Do you have any idea what it is about?'

Cloud shook his head, his bright blue eyes thoughtful.

'It's kinda strange that they'd issue a mission and not know when they wanted it carrying out,' Ross said

'Yeah, I know...' Cloud muttered, then looked up at Ross, 'D'you think Sarah might know something about it?'

'Maybe,' He answered, 'we could always go and see'

Cloud nodded and took out his phone. He dialled Sarah's number and waited for her to pick up.

* * *

Back in her room, Sarah was pacing back and forth anxiously, wondering when someone would call. She nearly jumped out of her skin when her phone finally rang, but when she saw who, for the first time she wish he didn't have her number.

'Yes?' Sarah said irritably on answering her phone

'Hey Sarah,' came Cloud's voice, 'where are you?'

'In my room,' Sarah frowned, 'Why?'

'I was just wandering if we could talk?'

Sarah frowned again; why did he want to talk to her? And could she really be bothered to deal with him right now...

'What about?'

'Err... Could we just come up and talk to you?' he asked evasively

'Well...' Sarah sighed, then paused, 'Err- who's 'we'?'

'Me and Ross,' Cloud answered as if it should be obvious

Sarah sighed again and looked at the ground. What with her recent training, she hadn't hand that much time to see Cloud and Ross, and if this mission went bad or the attack on Shinra did, she may not be able to see them again...

'Alright,' she said after a long pause, 'but I may not have much time so hurry up'

'Kay' Cloud said and his phone clicked shut.

A few minutes later there was a knock on her door and Sarah went to answer it.

'Hey' she said, and opened the door wide enough for Cloud and Ross to come in, 'What did you want to talk about?'

'Err, well...' Cloud started, but then suddenly became unsure of himself

Sarah raised her eyebrows and looked at him impatiently; 'Well?' she prompted him

Cloud looked pleadingly at Ross who rolled his eyes and began to talk

'We've just been selected for a mission, but no-one seems to know when it is or what it is about,' he said

Sarah just looked at them blankly; they had come to talk about a mission? She knew exactly what they were talking about – it was the mission to Wutai, but she could barely keep her anger below the surface so she wasn't going to make this easy for them.

'_And?'_ She snapped

Ross looked taken aback and stuttered 'W-well we were just wondering if... well, if you knew anything...?'

Sarah closed her eyes momentarily and inhaled deeply in an effort to calm herself

'What make you think that I would know anything about it?' she asked stiffly

Days later she would probably feel sorry for the two men facing her; they had come up for an innocent chat and she was on the verge of murdering them and they had no clue why.

She really wanted to scream at them – tell them what a crappy day she'd been having, get it off her chest how confused she was because of Sephiroth, Tseng and even Reno, and more than anything else she wanted to tell them what the president had said to her.

'I- w-we... err' Ross stuttered, his eyes wide and staring at her, but Clouds eyes were sad and looking at a point over her shoulder

'What's happened?' he asked gently

Sarah looked at him and wanted to be angry, but as his cool blue eyes met her raging brown ones, tears sprang into them and she looked down at the floor

'Um,' she began and swallowed hard, but Cloud didn't wait for her to continue and moved forward and put his arms around her. Sarah convulsed and sank into his embrace, willing herself not to start sobbing her heart out. Today had really been just a bit too much for her.

Ross looked on, still feeling a bit apprehensive, until Cloud caught his eye and gave him a slight nod.

Slowly, the two of them guided her to sit on her bed, one either side of her. They didn't say anything else and just waited for her to calm down. It took a couple of minutes, but finally she drew a deep breath and looked at the opposite wall and began to talk, deciding that they deserved to know what was going on.

'Less than half an hour ago, I fought two Wutian operatives undercover in Shinra,' she began, and the other two opened their mouths to say something but she shook her head, signalling that she didn't want any interruptions, 'I told the president and one of them were apprehended, but the other one managed to escape – I didn't kill them, I just left them unconscious'

Sarah took another deep breath and shifted her eyes back to the floor,

'The one we apprehended was instructor Giovanni Keller-'

'_What!' _The boys gasped

'And the other,' she continued,' who managed to escape, was Daniel Zelner. I'm sure you remember him'

Cloud and Ross were now speechless.

'Y-you're sure they were with Wutai?' Ross asked cautiously

Sarah nodded sharply. 'They knew everything. Stuff only Wutai would know.'

They nodded.

'Anyway,' she sighed, 'just before this, I was called to the conference room and shown footage sent to us by Wutai of the five girls I grew up with. They were starving and beaten, but still- still alive'

'Sarah...' Ross reached out and gently took her hand

Both Cloud and Ross knew about the girls. She had talked to them more than she had talked to anyone else about it. They knew what kinds of technology they had and their tactics and they knew that Sarah had thought the girls to surely be dead by now.

'The mission the two of you have been asked to do involve rescuing the girls if we can get their location out of Keller. The Turks are interrogating him right now.'

'So that's what all this fuss is about...' Cloud said and Sarah smiled wryly.

'You should be honoured you were picked for this assignment; they're only asking the best,' Sarah smiled and so did the boys

'I guess that means you're going too,' Ross said but the smile on Sarah's face had become rather fixed. Ross noticed and asked

'What is it?'

'I'm going on the mission,' she said quietly, 'but not for that reason,'

Cloud and Ross frowned.

'Huh?'

'I'm going on the mission because – I really shouldn't be telling you this; the President said not to tell anyone'

'-Then you shouldn't,' Ross said sharply, but Sarah shook her head earnestly and shifted back on her bed far enough so that she could see both their faces

'I have to! If I don't-'

'Sarah! Don't go getting yourself into trouble unnecessarily' Cloud said, 'If the President-'

'Oh who gives a damn what the President said!' She burst out angrily, 'It's not like he's very smart when it comes to these thing! And besides, if I don't, all of this will have been for nothing because it won't work otherwise!'

Cloud studied her closely for a moment, and then nodded, 'Okay,' he said

'Cloud?' Ross asked cautiously but Cloud shook his head and looked back at Sarah who took a deep breath and began

'It's likely that we won't be able to get the location of the Girls out of Keller, but even if that happens, Shinra still wants to launch an attack on Wutai and hopefully get the upper hand before they manage to attack us,'

Sarah paused for a minute to wonder how she was going to phrase the next part

'If this happens, or if I'm put in a position where I absolutely _have_ to choose between the girls and Shinra, the President- the President wants me to defect to Wutai...'

'_WHAT!' _Ross yelped and jumped up, while Cloud looked flabbergasted.

'Look,' she said desperately, 'you can't tell anyone! Not even the General or Tseng knows! Everybody has to think that I've truly defected because there may be Wutai spies within Shinra, and we can't give it away that I'm actually undercover, Okay?'

'B-but why?' Cloud stammered

Sarah looked down sadly, 'to get information,' she said, 'and if I can, rescue the girls so Wutai doesn't have any influence over me.'

'B-but-' Cloud was lost for words

'Just remember, Okay,' she said, looking earnestly at both of them, 'no matter what people say, or what I have to do, I will always be doing it for Shinra. This place has become like my home now – the first home I have ever known, and I'm not going to give this up for anything. I've told you about the things that Wutai are capable of thanks to their new technology, so I need the both of you to keep your eyes open! If you do spot something, go and tell Angeal or Genesis; we can trust them and they are more likely to listen to you than Sephiroth is – we actually aren't on such good terms at the moment. Okay?'

Cloud and Ross seemed unable to say anything so they just nodded. Sarah smiled slightly,

'You know this isn't a total goodbye right? I may not even have to defect...'

'But if you do-, 'Ross began

'Then I will simply be performing my duty for Shinra,' She cut across him

'But... you could die,' Clouds voice was nearly breaking with hidden tears

Sarah smiled miserably at him,

'That is a risk I have to be willing to take,'

'What?' Ross said

Sarah sighed and wondered if she should really say this, but then she thought she might as well

'I don't think that the President completely trusts me yet. He may think that I am only waiting for an opportunity before I can defect to Wutai again'

'_What!'_ the two boys gasped incredulously

Sarah nodded sadly

'Just remember what I have told the two of you, Okay,' she said, 'I'll always remain loyal to Shinra'

She paused for a second.

'When and if I defect, I am going to use the pretence that everything I do and have done has only ever been for the girls. That way I can pretend to let Wutai sway me over to their point of view and start regarding Shinra as my enemy. I haven't got all the little details worked out yet, so I'm going to have to bluff my way through it and hope they believe me.'

The three of them were silent for about a minute, all lost in their own thoughts about how this could go wrong and how much each of them could lose. Ross began to watch Sarah carefully for a few seconds.

'There's something else isn't there?' he asked after a while

'Huh?' Sarah said, jerking her head up to look at him Cloud also peered carefully at Sarah.

'Yeah, there is,' he agreed. Sarah raised her eyebrows at them

'Since when did you two become psychic?' she laughed

'Come on Sarah, what is it?' Ross said

'Nothing,' she lied. In truth she had just been thinking about Sephiroth and how he would react if she had to defect. She also wondered if Genesis would still believe in her or the Turks even...

'It's about Sephiroth, isn't it?' Cloud said out of the blue

'Wha-?'

'Well you said the two of you weren't getting along so well, which is strange since you're with Angeal and Genesis a lot and they are his best friends,' Cloud shrugged and cast a glance at Ross for Support

'Yeah,' Ross chimed in, 'and you two have been training together so you should be getting on okay or he'd dump you onto someone else'

Sarah just looked at the two boys in surprise, but then her shoulders slumped slightly and she gave in

'He is doing by bloody head in,' she sighed angrily before launching into an explanation of what had happened that morning in the training facility.

Believe it or not she had actually come to a conclusion a while ago for Sephiroth's strange behaviour, especially when she was around Genesis

When she finished she looked up to see Ross turning away to hide his smile, and Cloud shaking with laughter as he pressed his hand over his mouth in an attempt to quieten himself.

'See, I'm right aren't I?' she said, 'Sephiroth is in love with Genesis!'

Ross and Cloud couldn't take it anymore and they burst out laughing

'It's got to be that! I mean you should really see his expression when I mucking about with Genesis; it's like he wants to murder me, and especially when Genesis pretends to flirt with me or hugs me!'

With this the two boys roared with laughter clutching their stomachs

'S-sarah... sto-st... stop!' Ross panted, 'I c-can't... breathe!'

Cloud was shaking his head, his face beet red from laughing so hard

Sarah rolled her eyes, but then also laughed a little, realising for the first time how funny it actually was; Sephiroth, the cold, fearless General of the Shinra army, was in love with his literature addicted best friend! Sephiroth was _gay!_ Well it made sense for why he hadn't dated before...

'Sarah' Ross croaked, tears now rolling down his cheeks, 'he... he d-doesn't like Gene-Genesis...'

But he was unable to continue as he burst into another fit of laughter

'Of course he does,' She said indignantly, 'it's the only explanation that fits!'

Cloud shook his head,

'Oh God,' he laughed, 'you really are an idiot!'

'Huh?'

'Sarah,' Cloud began and glanced at Ross, who was beginning to regain his breath, 'He doesn't like Genesis...'

The boys glanced at each other again, smiles on their faces, then said in unison,

'He likes you!'

Now it was Sarah's turn to burst out laughing. The idea that Sephiroth liked her was absolutely ridiculous! It actually made the idea of Sephiroth/Genesis seem likely!

'Come off it-' She began, but was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. This sobered her up entirely and she unknowingly held her breath as she answered her phone.

'Yes?' she asked nervously, and cast anxious glances at the other two, who gave her reassuring nods. She received an unexpected jolt in her stomach when it was Sephiroth's voice she heard

'We have ascertained the location of the hostages, the briefing is in half an hour' he said

Sarah exhaled in relief, 'Thank God!' she breathed – it was less likely that she would have to defect now. She gave the boys they thumbs up and the smiled.

'Also,' he continued, and on his end of the phone there was a slight hesitation and it sounded as if he was walking away from people to get some privacy, although he used the same emotionless tone when he spoke again, 'the President has informed me of the plan,'

'What!' she said, her stomach clenched nervously, 'H-he told you? I thought no-one was supposed to know!'

In her room, Cloud and Ross frowned at her but she shook her head.

'Where are you?' he suddenly asked

'In my room,' she said, now very perplexed

'Are you alone?'

'E-er, no' she stammered, and jumped slightly when it sounded as if he had just made a quiet angry noise and nearly dropped his phone, 'I'm with Cloud and Ross... but I can ask them to leave...'

'That would be best,' he said, sounding almost as if he was... angry?

'R-right,' she said and lowered her phone from her hear and covered the receiver with her hand.

'Um, do you think you could leave for a bit?' she asked apologetically, 'it's just...' she motioned towards her phone.

They nodded and stood up, but before they left, Cloud turned round and mouthed, 'Is it _him_?'

Sarah blushed slightly and nodded.

'_Sephiroth?_' Ross mouthed and Sarah nodded again and motioned the two boys out, who were again laughing silently.

Still blushing and attempting not to laugh herself, she cleared her throat and brought the phone back to her ear,

'Sorry about that,' she said, trying to sound calm, 'they're gone now,'

'Good,' he said coolly, 'it is best that this conversation remains private,'

'Of course' she replied, she leaned back on her bed and sighed a little, 'so he told you then...'

Sarah felt like a bit of an idiot now – she needn't have worried Ross and Cloud with telling them, and she could have done without the hassle of them declaring Sephiroth had feelings for her, seeing as she was now on the phone with him.

'It seems the President heeded your worries about not being able to get far enough away to defect without being intercepted,' he said, and Sarah could hear the sneer in his voice. The anger inside her was ready to flare up again – Cloud and Ross had to be wrong; there was no way he could have feelings for her when he enjoyed insulting her so much.

'Yeah,' Sarah said, trying to ignore his last comment, 'I'm glad he listened. He kept on trying to convince me that I could give even first class SOLDIER's a good run for their money, but I just told him that wasn't the point,'

'Oh?' came the sneering retort

'Well, yeah. I'm not saying that I _could_ do any damage to a First or even a Second, but I didn't want to risk hurting anyone – I don't want to have to be _that_ convincing' she said

'Yet if you are stuck in close quarters when having to make a decision, you will have to be that convincing,' he said forcefully

'I know, I know, I'll have to make it seem that I'm trying to cause some real damage...' no matter how hard she had tried, she couldn't keep the hesitation out of her voice, and Sephiroth heard it.

On his end, he smiled evilly as an idea came into his head.

'Very well then,' he said, 'I will ensure that it is me that you fight if it comes to that'

He was satisfied when he heard Sarah's yelp on her end

'_What!_ I know that solves the problem of _me _hurting anyone, but that doesn't solve the problem of stopping me from getting squished like a bug!'

Her heart fluttered slightly when she heard the General chuckle, and realised that it was actually genuine.

'Don't worry,' he said with a slight reassurance in his voice, 'I will work to make it look convincing, but I won't be aiming to kill you – perhaps just leave a scar or two,' he joked

'Oh boy,' she laughed, 'I am so screwed!'

* * *

_**Well, there we go.**_

_**I hope it wasn't too bad, but on the bright side, only two more exams to go and then I'm FREE!**_

_**Well, at least until I head off to Sixth-Form...**_

_**Anyway, thanks for reading and I sincerely hope that you will review :)**_

_**Until next time,**_

_**UncahinedMelody94  
**_


	23. Chapter 23

_**Just like to let you know before I begin, you may still have a chance to have a say in the way this story goes, although I have chosen not to follow the crisis core plot. Anyway, enjoy reading...**_

* * *

Thankfully the briefing was very quick. The Turks and SOLDIER's who were going on the mission were given the details by Lazard and the President, and then the infantrymen were given a brief overview of what to do by the General.

They had a little bit of time until they departed, to give time for all the necessary preparations to be made. Sephiroth, Genesis and Zack would be going on the mission as the SOLDIER force, and Tseng, Reno, and Rude would be providing the Turk's air support. Several medical personnel would also be going to see to the wounded. To top it off, around 100 infantrymen would be accompanying them, including Cloud. Ross was to stay back at HQ to help with defence if it was needed.

The whole of Shinra was now on alert, and nearly all non-military personnel were ordered out of the building in case an attack happened – the less lives lost, the better.

Sarah accompanied Genesis down to the refectory to get some lunch, but she really didn't feel like eating anything, no matter how many times he said that she should. Genesis watched her closely for a while as they sat down.

The hall was practically empty as nearly the whole company had already eaten, and Sarah was unusually quiet.

'It'll all be fine, you know,' he said, putting down his knife and fork and looking at her seriously,

She looked up at him in surprise, but found she couldn't say anything, so she just nodded and gave him a quick smile.

Sarah desperately wanted to tell him that she may have to defect. By the sounds of it, the President wanted her to do it no matter the situation, and this troubled her a lot. She didn't know how she would manage without any of her friends by her side.

While she was still with Wutai, she had the girls to go back to every day. They kept her going – always knowing that she had something to fight for, and someone there to support her. But what if all that changed? Here at Shinra, she had all her new friends, like Genesis, Cissnei and Cloud, so she was fine, most of the time at least.

But what if she had to defect, but still couldn't get to her friends. There would be no-one there for her, and she couldn't exactly sneak back to Shinra to talk to anyone, because they would all think that she had betrayed them. They _had_ to think that...

However, what worried her most of all was that she had to be convincing to Wutai, and she knew them; she knew what she would have to do to convince them that she was on their side. She would have to cause Shinra some real damage. Or do something that would greatly benefit Wutai.

Neither of them appealed to her at all...

To top it all off, she would have to be so convincing that the President and Sephiroth would probably even start to lose faith in her, and if that happened, she may never be able to return to Shinra in case they thought she had really defected and had turned spy for Wutai.

'You know,' Genesis said, startling her out of her thoughts, 'if you're worried, you should just stick close to Sephiroth – you won't have anything to worry about then'

'It's not that I'm worried about,' she said quickly, and smiled at him,

'What is it then?' he asked

'Well...' she hesitated, and then had an idea which would kill two birds with one stone, 'I'm more worried about my sword falling apart in the middle of a fight; a standard issue katana isn't much to brag about'

Genesis laughed and Sarah almost breathed a sigh of relief – he mustn't find out about the plan.

'Why don't you buy a new one?' he said,

'Ummm because I don't have any money...?' she said in a mockingly dumb voice

'Really?' he asked, 'What have you been spending your pay on then?'

'Well I-' she began, but then paused, 'I get _paid?_'

Genesis laughed again, 'You didn't know?'

Sarah shook her head dumbly.

'You know that card you have to carry around with you, with all the numbers on,' he laughed and she nodded, 'that's what you buy things with; what with spending a couple of months in the cadets and having been inducted into SOLDIER, you'll definitely have enough money to buy a sword. Perhaps not a brilliant one, but better than the one you've got now!'

Sarah just looked at him dumbly, 'I have _money_?'

'Come on,' he said, abandoning his food and grabbing her wrist, 'we've still got enough time'

'Time for what?' she yelped as he dragged her out of her seat,

'To get you a sword of course!' he replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

* * *

5 minutes later, Sarah found herself being dragged into a weapons shop by Genesis, where they began to look at something she could buy. The red head dragged her to what looked like the expensive end of the shop and began to browse, while she stood there dumbly, not entirely sure of what she had to do.

After about a minute, he glanced over at her and laughed when he saw her just standing there looking perplexed.

'Come on,' he said, 'I can't choose for you,'

Sarah just looked at him pleadingly making him shake his head in amusement and disbelief,

'Here,' he said after a few moments, and pulled her over to where he was standing as he picked up a sword, 'what about this,'

He handed the sword to Sarah who looked at it carefully, and then grasped it in a fighting stance. She tried out a couple of simple moves and tricks with it.

'Well, it's definitely better balanced than the one I've got now...' she mused out loud, 'and it definitely is longer, thank god...'

She examined it for a bit longer before deciding that she liked it. It would definitely be a lot easier to fight with. She went and paid a reasonable price for it, and found she still had some money left, so the Genesis dragged her off to but some materia.

Again she just stood back and let Genesis pick for her – for some reason, Sarah and shops just didn't mix.

Another five minutes later and she and Genesis were heading back to HQ.

'Do you have an allergy to shops or something?' Genesis asked as they ascended the stairs and entered the building.

'I think I must do,' she laughed, 'I'm petrified of the places'

They continued laughing until they reached the elevator. As the doors slid shut, Genesis turned to her and said,

'Shall we go to the training room and you can get a feel for your sword?'

She agreed, and they spent the remaining time there until they had to leave for the mission

On their way to the transport, Sarah bumped into Ross and Cloud. She told Genesis she would catch him up so he went on without her,

'Good luck,' they each said, pulling her in turn into a hug

'Thanks,' she said smiling, then looked at them sadly, taking in their faces, 'I can't believe this might be the last time I see you...'

'Sarah,' Ross cut across forcefully, but spoke in a low tone so no-one would be able to overhear what was being said, 'Nothing is going to happen, okay. You may not even have to leave.'

'Yeah,' Sarah said, then cast a quick glance around before saying seriously, 'look, whatever happens, you have to promise that you will _never_ lose faith in me, no matter what I am seen to do – I'll do my best to see that I cause no harm to Shinra, alright?'

They both nodded solemnly, and Sarah opened her mouth to say something again, but just at that moment, their friend Kenny Jenson passed them.

'Hi,' Sarah smiled quickly at him as he passed. His head jerked her way, and Sarah was surprised to see a look of confusion, and no recognition whatsoever on his face. He just nodded unsurely and flashed a quick fake smile and walked away.

Sarah frowned and glanced at Ross and Cloud who were doing the same. She quickly glanced back at Kenny's retreating back, and her stomach suddenly clenched.

He was wearing a SOLDIER uniform, but round his left wrist he wore a black bangle with indistinct patterns that seemed awfully familiar.

She turned quickly to the others to say something, but didn't get a chance to as someone called her name.

She looked up to see Zack motioning that it was time to leave.

'Look,' she lowered her voice and talked quickly, 'just remember what I've said, and keep your eyes open! Oh and –_do – not – forget – what – I –told – you – about – the – Wutai – bangles'_

The boys frowned momentarily, then their eyes widened

'You think-' Cloud began but he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence

'No time!' Sarah cut across him. She looked over her shoulder again, 'Kenny is staying here, right?'

Ross nodded, a frown creasing his brow,

'_Keep an eye on him_' she said clearly, then departed quickly as Zack called her name again, and told her she was going to be left behind if she didn't hurry up.

The two infantrymen exchanged worried glances before Cloud quickly hurried off to join the others going on the mission, while Ross gulped loudly and looked off in the direction that Kenny had disappeared.

'Sorry about that,' Sarah said as she jogged to catch up with the black haired SOLDIER

The two of them jumped into the van which would take them to an aircraft which would transport them while still in the van. Sephiroth and Genesis were already there, and it would be only the four of them in there on the journey while an infantryman drove.

'We aim to reach Wutai about nightfall,' Sephiroth said as they closed the door, 'that way we will have the cover of darkness'

Sarah nodded, her mouth turning dry – it was happening, actually happening; they were launching an attack on Wutai, and maybe she could see _them_ again...

He stomach lurched as the van started to move, and a sudden realisation dawned over her – there was no turning back now, no backing out of fulfilling her duty.

'I'll do it,' she thought determinedly, 'and I'll do it with honour...'

Realising what she had just thought, she gave herself a mental shake,

'I think I've been spending too much time around Angeal,' she thought, 'next thing I know I'll be talking about my dreams and pride as a SOLDIER. Oh God, I better not become obsessed with Loveless because of Genesis, or turn into a chocobo because of Cloud!'

Suddenly she giggled out loud and the other the looked at her in surprise

'What's so funny?' Zack asked with a small smirk

'Nothing really,' Sarah laughed, 'I'm just going crazy, that's all'

'How come?'

'Well, I was just worried I was going to turn into a chocobo,'

Zack and Genesis both laughed heartily, and even Sephiroth smiled slightly

'W-where did that come from!' Zack laughed in astonishment

Sarah shook her head giggling.

'I was just thinking how I've been spending so much time around people that their habits are rubbing off on me, and my friend Cloud really reminds me of a chocobo because of his hair and eyes, so I was worried that it could rub off on me as well,'

Genesis shook his head in disbelief,

'How you can be named one of the brightest minds in Shinra still eludes me...' he said in mock sadness

They laughed a little more, but then sank back into silence, and Sarah's thoughts took a darker turn. This must have shown on her face because Zack asked,

'Worried?'

Sarah looked up at him,

'Yeah, a little,' she admitted, but couldn't tell him the real reason.

'Not me,' he said brightly as he stretched his arms, 'I can't wait to get out there,'

'Really?' Sarah asked, quite surprised by this

'Yeah, I've been doing nothing but training for ages now, I can't wait to get back out into the field!' he said jovially, but his smile faltered slightly at the look of disbelief on her face,

'You mean you actually like fighting?' she frowned

'Well, it's better than training,' he said unsurely, 'I mean, what good can I do if I'm stuck in a training room?'

Sarah just nodded thoughtfully

'But don't get me wrong,' he said hurriedly, 'it's not like I _enjoy_ killing; I'd rather not, but sometimes there's not anything else you can do...'

'Yeah,' Sarah said quietly, and gave him a quick smile to show she wasn't angry

There was a silence for a few moments before Genesis spoke

'You don't like fighting?' he asked, and thankfully not sneering. Sarah sighed and thought carefully about what to say

'I was raised by people who wanted war, and I was trained to fight, but it was those people who are responsible for the deaths of my parents and ruining so many lives. Because of that I hate fighting; because I was raised for it, and I didn't get a choice.'

* * *

It took several hours to get to Wutai and to be honest, it wasn't exactly comfortable in the van, but the other three seemed used to it.

When they stepped out of the van, everything was dark and eerily silent, even though over a hundred people were there, all awaiting the signal to go.

Sephiroth quickly pulled her aside, away from any ears.

'Are you prepared?' he asked quietly, his intense green eyes gazing through the dark into her brown ones. She felt a sudden rush as their eyes met, and couldn't help but think of what Cloud and Ross had said

'Yes,' she said defiantly and Sephiroth gave a slight nod

'Just remember to stay near me, just in case you have to defect,'

Sarah swallowed hard, and her pulse raced, but she nodded. Sephiroth reached into his pocket and handed her an ear piece.

'Put this on,' he said, 'the President has a live feed, and he will tell you what to do when and if the time comes. If you lose it or it gets broken, use your initiative, or look to me for a signal, understood?'

Sarah took the ear piece with slightly shaking hands and nodded again, and put it in her ear.

'You won't be able to communicate back unfortunately,' he added

She simply nodded yet again, too nervous to be able to speak, and too scared to look directly into his eyes. It was almost as if he could see into her very soul...

Sephiroth watched her for a bit, looking as though he wanted to say something and finally he opened his mouth,

'Sarah-' he began, and she looked up at him, but at that precise moment they were ushered over by Genesis and Zack for the mission.

'Right,' Sephiroth addressed the troops, and the all stood to attention, 'the Turk's airstrike is due any moment. That will be the signal for the first unit of infantry to enter. On my signal the second group will enter along with the SOLDIER operatives. This mission is of utmost importance, I expect nothing less than your best performance, understood?'

The infantrymen stood to attention obediently. Sarah couldn't tell where Cloud was – they all had their helmets on.

Sarah was really nervous by now, and was shaking as badly as when she had went on her first mission with Sephiroth and Tseng. That all seemed so far away now, even though that had been in August and it was now only October. It had only been two months... just over three since she had joined Shinra, and only a week before that she had escaped from Wutai.

Had it really only been just over three months? Had she really only been in SOLDIER for a few days? And, already, all this was happening...

The sound of bombs dropping nearby startled her out of her thoughts and made her nearly jump a foot in the air. There were no smiles on anyone's faces now, only looks of pure determination.

'Okay Sarah,' she told herself, 'you've been in battles before. Just remember that you have to do everything you can. Do it so you can have a family again...'

She looked at the others who all nodded reassuringly at her, and then she looked towards the General. His expression was difficult to read; it was almost pained when their eyes met. He quickly looked away again, and gave the signal for the rest of the division and SOLDIER to head out.

Sarah mimicked the others and drew her new sword and held it firmly in her hand.

'Here we go,' she muttered and followed the others into battle

It was lucky; Sarah thought as she entered the battle field, that there had been an airstrike first, because by the look of it, Wutai had been ready and waiting for them. Perhaps 100 hundred infantry wouldn't be enough...

However, far from putting her off, this spurred her to fight – Cloud was out there somewhere and she wouldn't let him die, not while she was still alive.

She rushed in, not knowing where he was, so she just decided to help them all. Genesis and Zack cut left to deal with incoming troops, while Sarah headed right, ahead of Sephiroth to help a group of infantrymen caught in close combat.

She jumped in and blocked the enemies' attacks, ducked round a sword, used her elbow to know the person back and brought her sword round and cut his throat. She then quickly brought her sword round in the other direction and cut an attacker on her left, then on her right, and found she had managed to turn slightly from her previous trajectory, so she turned her sword around in her hand and thrust it under her arm with both hands, and killed the person behind her.

She quickly checked to see that the Shinra men were okay before nodding quickly and delving deeper into the fray. She ran forward, using her speed to strengthen her attacks and took out a group coming her way with great ease.

Then, looking to her right, she saw two people on the ground about to be killed by a small group of the enemy, so she quickly sent a fire spell their way, giving the Shinra men a chance to grab their swords and defend themselves.

By the looks of it they had secured the immediate area.

'_Sarah_,' a voice spoke in her ear, and she jumped and looked around before realising it was the ear piece, and the presidents voice, '_take a couple of people and head straight up, but don't take too many. If you encounter anything too much, encourage them to fall back_,'

'You two!' she shouted to the men she had just saved, 'with me!'

They looked around and hesitated for half a second before running to catch up with her, one of them with a machine gun, the other with only a sword.

She turned and ran towards an alley between two houses, the two men following close behind her, alert and watchful. The alley turned a corner and went along the length of a short row of houses, and she came out on a new street, way ahead of where the current fighting was going on, far down to her right.

'_Sarah, go left_'

'Come on,' she said, and headed left, away from the fighting

'_Sephiroth will catch you up, but you must give them a chance to try and persuade you,'_

Right, she thought, this is it. I'm so close now.

She knew the two men behind her would be feeling very confused by now, wondering why she was leading them away from the fighting, ahead of everyone else.

They had just about reached the end of the street, when suddenly a flash of light appeared somewhere around the corner, and a summon monster came tearing at them. Sarah could tell just by the look of it that this beast favoured the ice element, which was great for her since she seemed to have a raw talent for fire.

The two men let out shouts of panic when they saw it, and only just managed to throw themselves out of the way as a huge ball of ice was hurled at them.

'Fall back!' she shouted at them, and the one with the sword scrambled to his feet and took off full sprint, but the other seemed dazed and moved too slowly. The beast launched itself and made to strike at him, but Sarah quickly intervened and deflected the attack.

'FALL BACK!' she yelled again, and he nodded gratefully then scrambled to his feet and was away.

Now she focused all of her attention on the beast. It had pale blue fur, long razor sharp claws, and long, yellow fangs, and you could easily have fit two Sephiroth's under its chin.

Sarah griped her sword firmly and prepared for a special attack, but just as she struck the beast disappeared and she was left attacking thin air.

'What?' she muttered and looked wildly around, but then she heard soft footsteps coming down the alley form which the beast had appeared.

'I wish you hadn't done that Sarah,' Tyler's voice said, preceding his footsteps, until he showed round the corner, 'my little friend hasn't had the chance to feast on Shinra flesh for a long, long time. Although I should thank you; by coming to me you have saved me the trouble of finding you'

At the sight of him, Sarah's blood boiled with anger, and she wanted nothing more than to be able to attack him, to tear him apart, but the President spoke before she had a chance

'_Make it about the girls, I have alerted Sephiroth; he will head the attack up to reach you within a minute'_

'Where are they Tyler?' she asked loudly

'Who?' he asked innocently, smiling pleasantly as if this was an ordinary everyday conversation

'You know bloody well who I mean!' She yelled, 'The girls – Annie, Jen, and the others!'

'Sorry, but I have no idea what you are talking about,' he mocked

'TYLER!'

'_Sarah!_' the president warned her, and she swallowed hard

'Just- Just tell me they are alive,' she said, looking at the floor, her hand gripping the sword so tightly that it hurt.

'And, what if they're not?' he asked lightly

'Then I – I - '

'_You have no reason to spare him'_

Sarah looked up fiercely into his eyes,

'Then I have no reason to spare you!' she yelled, and brandished her sword slightly

Tyler raised his eyebrows, and walked forward slightly,

'I see,' he said lightly, 'and what if they are alive?'

'Then... then let me see them,' she begged, real tears forming in her eyes

'Why would I do that? Where's the fun?' he laughed and her stomach churned

'Because I- I'll,' she looked around desperately

'_Sarah_...' the President warned her

'Look, I'll do whatever you want, just let me see them! _Please!'_ she screamed at him, all the frustration and anger she had been holding back came gushing forth.

Tyler looked at her coolly for a second, and she could tell he was considering her words carefully

'Anything...?'

'Yes, anything,' she sobbed, 'I'll do anything! I'll tear Shinra down with my own two hands if I have to! I don't care about sides anymore, _I don't care!_ I just want to see them again – I need to, I need them to be alright... please... I'll do... any-thing...'

Judging by the look on his face, it seemed as though he believed her, but he wasn't going to let her go without a challenge,

'Would you kill him?' he asked and jerked his head to someone behind her. She whipped around to see Sephiroth walking calmly towards her, Zack following close behind

She whipped her head back to face Tyler's sneering face, her eyes wide and almost pleading

'_Sephiroth?'_ she croaked

'Consider it, insurance,' he said, and moved his hand to the handle of his sword.

'_Do it Sarah, take the bait,'_

Sarah looked back towards Sephiroth and Zack, then back to Tyler,

'I'm waiting...' Tyler said to her left

'Sarah?' Zack's voice came from her right

She looked at the General, he gave her a miniscule nod, and then she looked back at Tyler who just watched her steadily.

Now was the time to make her decision.

Return to Shinra and face the possibility of being fired for disobeying orders, or return to Wutai, to the misery she had finally escaped from, and have the hope of seeing the girls again, but maybe never being able to return to Shinra.

To her, it was a decision – one to decide who was more important to her; the girls who may be dead, or the new friends and possibly more she had found at Shinra.

She looked towards Sephiroth and met his gaze.

Her decision was made.

* * *

_**I guess this can be left free to interpretation until I update, but like I said at the beginning of the chapter, if you feel very strongly about which direction you want this to go in, you can always shout up and I'll try and listen!**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**Until next time,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Wel, here we go with chapter 24! I actually can't believe I've written this many chapters lol. I hope you enjoy this and however many more that are to come.

* * *

**_

**Chapter 24**

This was it. She was going to do it.

She was going to purposely start a fight with Sephiroth – the man who had never even so much as got a scratch in battle before.

The sliver haired man gave her a miniscule nod for encouragement, which Sarah returned. Thankfully Tyler didn't catch this exchange as his eyes were flitting back and forth between them through the darkness.

His eagerness was so obvious that Sarah could feel it even though she wasn't looking at him, so she decided it would be best to satisfy it quickly.

'Sarah?' Zack's voice came as he stepped forward slightly, his sword drawn and a look of confusion in his eyes

'Well isn't this interesting!' Tyler sneered from behind her, 'are you going to take them both on, or can I take the spiky haired whelp?'

Zack moved forward angrily as Tyler did cockily, but Sarah and Sephiroth, mirroring each other, flung out their arms to stop them in their tracks.

'I thought you wanted to watch me fight Sephiroth,' Sarah said, her mouth dry and brain working furiously, 'how can you do that if you're occupied?'

Zack's eyes widened and he looked as though he had been punched in the stomach when Tyler chuckled and said, 'very well,'

'_What the hell is going on?'_ Zack made to move forward again but once more he was stopped and he stumbled back a few paces

'Stay out of this,' Sephiroth said, his voice full of menace. Zack was too scared to argue and backed off a few paces

'Sarah?' Zack asked unsurely

'If you knew what was good for you,' Sarah said, forcing her voice to sound angry, 'you'll run along like a good little boy and not look back,'

'Bu-'

'Go!' Sephiroth growled

Zack stumbled back a couple more paces but didn't look as though he was ready to leave. His eyes were pleading, flitting between the two facing each other.

It was all Sarah could do to keep herself form crying. She wanted to run to him and hug him, tell him that this was all planned, but she knew she couldn't. She also knew that if he didn't get out of here soon Tyler would try to kill him.

She closed her eyes briefly and sighed angrily, before summoning a fire attack and sending it towards the poor confused SOLDIER.

Sephiroth took this as a cue for their fight to begin and blocked the attack and struck at Sarah. Even though the fight was supposed to be faked, it was incredibly intense. Sephiroth's true power and speed shocked her, but she also shocked herself in the way that she managed to keep up with him.

They purposely manoeuvred the battle away from Tyler. Once they were a good distance away Sephiroth spoke as they continued fighting.

'I'm going to knock you away,' he said in an amazingly calm voice, 'don't come back, just run – I won't come after you,'

'Right,' Sarah panted,

Their swords locked in a grapple and green eyes met brown,

'Promise me something though,' Sarah said quietly, and gazed up intently into his eyes, 'don't ever lose faith in me, please?'

Sephiroth really didn't know how to respond, so he simply gave a short curt nod and sent her flying – literally. By the time she landed she may have travelled half a mile, and was half way up a mountain.

Her back had slammed hard into the rocky surface. She rolled over, groaning in pain, coughed, and saw blood spatter the dusty ground.

'Damn you Sephiroth,' she muttered as she wiped her mouth and gingerly got to her feet. She turned and looked back over the town in time to see flames erupt from somewhere in the middle. A sudden wave of nausea and fatigue overtook her as the sound of women and children screaming pierced her ears.

Her world went dizzy, and she sunk to her knees clutching at her head. Red hot pain shot through her chest with the force of a cannon ball, she spluttered blood out of her mouth once more and fell forward onto her face.

The night swirled around her, becoming the pitch black pits of hell. Flames licked at her body, wanting to purge her soul. Behind the flames faceless people were screaming, reaching out to her; they needed her help. Why was she just lying here? Why wasn't she doing anything?

Then one voice rang out, high pitched above the rest of them, clear as sun breaking through the darkest clouds, yet chilling her already cold body to the bone

'_SARAAAAAAH!'_

_

* * *

_

When she awoke, it was to a cruel, sharp pain in her chest, and a cold stone room which looked like it had been cut out of a cave.

She was lying on a thin, lumpy mattress on top of a rickety metal bed frame, both of which stunk of decay, mould and rust.

Her whole body was aching and stiff which made moving difficult; she hadn't been this weak in years. Groaning as she sat up, Sarah looked across to the door which was just opposite the bed. It was made out of a thick slab of steel with heavy duty hinges attaching it to the stone wall, and had a small window cut out near the top with strong vertical metal bars running down it.

She suppressed a slight shudder – this room reminded her of the one she had inhabited for the most part of her life, but had managed to escape only months previously.

Sarah massaged the back of her neck and looked around the room as well as she could in the gloom, trying to focus on the differences.

For starters, this place actually had a bed – that was a huge difference. The five of them had always slept awkwardly on the floor. It was sad, in a way that she had grown so used to it while there, but now that she knew the comfort of a bed, she realised how much better it was.

Secondly, this room had a window that at least let a miniscule amount of light into the room. Before, all the light the girls had was half a candle every so often when their captors were feeling generous. Sarah simply supposed this was to stop them from going blind from lack of light or something stupid like that.

Sarah sighed. 'Could be worse,' she muttered

As if the sound of her voice was the cue he had been waiting for, a guard stepped into view of the cell window and inserted a key into the door.

'Bass said he wanted to see you when you woke up,' the man said gruffly and opened the door, 'move it; don't want to keep him waiting,'

He stepped to the side and held his machine gun at the ready, but not pointing directly at her, which to be honest, was a first for Sarah.

'Well that's something at least,' she thought grimly, and pushed herself up.

'Ah!' she gasped in pain and stumbled, thankfully catching herself before she hit the wall.

She half expected the guard to say 'stop complaining' and drag her out of her cell then march her down the hall at gunpoint, but he simply stood there waiting for her expressionlessly.

She was immensely surprised by this but didn't dare say anything; she didn't really want to test his policy on talking or asking questions. In her old base the policy had been telling them to shut up and roughly shove them in the back with the gun if they were in a good mood, if they weren't, then it was knock them out with the handle of the gun and drag them, unconscious, back to the cell.

Straightening herself, Sarah took a deep breath and walked out of the cell, the guard following half a step behind and watching her closely.

'This is going to be interesting,' Sarah thought as she walked through the cave tunnel hallways, ''If 'Boss' means D.Z… I've never met him before. If they were going to kill me they would have done it by now, unless they're going to torture me for information. Maybe this is going to work after all…'

The room Sarah walked into was nothing like she had expected it to be; there were no rough stone walls, and no sound of water dripping reverberating around a cold, stone room.

For a moment, Sarah forgot that they were in caves, and not in a rich mans' mansion. The room was decorated lavishly, as a cross between an office and a cosy yet spacious living room.

The door was made of oak, which opened onto two brown leather sofas facing each other. In between them was a beautiful coffee table on an ornate rug. A few metres beyond this was a large mahogany desk, with several files and a computer on it.

As lovely as the room was, Sarah's stomach still clenched with nerves as her eyed landed on the man sitting behind the desk.

He was wearing a crisp black suit over a well-built body. His hair was a dark brown which was combed backwards and lightly streaked with grey. His face was clean shaven, but had a few age lines littering it. Overall, if this was a man you had met on an ordinary day in the office, he wouldn't have seemed completely unattractive.

However, Sarah's heart was beating too fast in her chest to allow her to really take this in.

The man nodded to the guard who had brought her, and Sarah heard him turn and leave the room, closing the door behind him.

Sarah stood up a little straighter and clasped her hands behind her back, waiting for him to say something. But he didn't. He simply sat behind his desk and studied her with his mysterious grey eyes.

Something about his gaze made her uncomfortable. After about 15 seconds, she began to fidget slightly. After about 20 seconds, she found she couldn't even look straight at him. After about 30 seconds, she started getting a little annoyed.

She took a deep calming breath, then looked the man in the eyes and said, 'The guard said you wanted to see me'

The man raised an eyebrow at her and she suddenly blushed at how stupid that had sounded

'I _can_ see you,' he said calmly, looking her directly in the eye

Sarah quickly cleared her throat, and said, 'Then _why_ did you want to see me?'

Again he said nothing, and just studied her for a few seconds.

'Sit down' he said suddenly, nodding toward the leather sofas

'Huh?' Sarah said before she could stop herself

'Great,' she thought, 'sounding very intelligent'

'Sit down,' he repeated, this time with a trace of a smile on his lips.

For a moment she didn't move, but then she walked forward cautiously toward the sofa on her right and sat down near the end farthest from the desk, and clasped her hands in her lap.

She swore that he gave a small chuckle at this, but he got up at the same time and walked round to the front of his desk and leaned casually against it, arm folded lightly across his chest.

Again, Sarah grew uncomfortable under his stare.

'Do you know who I am?' he asked after a while. Sarah looked up at him. Although she couldn't see any resemblance, she knew she was looking at Daniel Zelner's father – Demetrio Zelner.

'Demetrio Zelner,' she said quietly, 'leader and founder of SHARK'

He cocked his head slightly to the side and raised an eyebrow, before smiling slightly.

'I see Daniel let my name slip then,' he said, sounding amused, 'and I suppose he told you I am his father, too.'

Sarah looked up at him again, and gave him a small nod, but frowned when he shook his head slightly.

'Poor boy. I have raised him as my own since he was a small child,' he said, 'his parents died when he was 18 months old,'

Sarah's frown deepened for a moment,

'Why are you telling me this?'

Demetrio raised his eyebrows at her, 'I thought you would like to know my reason for forming SHARK, so you could fully appreciate my- _our_ aims'

She nodded slowly.

'You never wondered why?' he asked lightly

Sarah looked down at the floor thoughtfully.

'I… I never really thought about it,' she answered truthfully, 'to tell the truth, I didn't think it really mattered.'

'To me, it matters more than anything,' he said softly.

Sarah looked up at him and was shocked. All the times she had imagined ever meeting D.Z, she had never imagined this. He was gazing at thin air, a gentle yet pained expression in his eyes. He hadn't brought her in front of him and had her tortured; he was calmly talking to her like a real person.

Demetrio Zelner wasn't a figure of nightmare as she had grown up to believe – he was just… a man.

His grey eyes focused on her brown ones, 'would you like to know?'

For a minute Sarah felt like she couldn't breathe and her mouth went dry. It took all her willpower to hold his gaze for another couple of seconds before replying, 'yes. I would,'

He smiled at her sadly for a moment, and his eyes travelled over her face, gently taking in her features. Sarah felt a nervous twinge in her stomach as he did this, mesmerised by his eyes, which seemed to catch the light perfectly.

'A long time ago, my father had a very good friend in Midgar. Together, they began to draw up plans for a business, to provide the people with power to they could lead more comfortable lives,'

Sarah frowned; he couldn't possibly be talking about…

'Yes, that's right,' he said, as if reading her mind, 'together they drew up the idea of the company you know of today as Shinra.'

Sarah was stunned.

'At first it was going very well. They managed to start getting enough funds to start the company. However, my father didn't agree with the method of creating that power – the mako reactors. He said that it could be harmful to the planet and people to suck it out of the earth, and no-one even knew what people could do with such potent energy.'

He rubbed his temple with his strong fingers.

'Not long after their argument, my father left, saying he didn't want anything to do with it. So then the company was named after Shinra, and no-one else knew that another person had helped create it.'

'What happened then?' Sarah asked gently

'My father returned to Wutai, and it seemed Shinra had forgotten about him. But then, Shinra wanted to start farming for Mako in Wutai. No-one liked the idea of it, but my father, along with the leader of Wutai, stood at the forefront of the resistance. Then about 16 years ago now, Shinra sent operative to kill my father, and the rest of my family. They killed my father, my mother, my little sister, and even my fiancé.'

Sarah's lips parted in shock.

'I'm so sorry,' she breathed

He shook his head and smiled bitterly,

'I've had 16 years to get over it,' he said, and then sighed, 'anyway, after that happened, I knew I had to avenge my family, but I needed the power to do it. That's when I formed SHARK – I needed to be able to match SOLDIER, to even out the playing field,'

'Well you went the wrong way about it,' Sarah snapped, suddenly brought back to her senses.

Demetrio raised his eyebrows at her again, but this time looked angry,

'Excuse me?' he asked coolly.

Sarah was also angry, and she stood up, finding herself practically screaming at him,

'_Kidnapping people! Torturing them! Then killing them and taking their children and sticking them in an underground base to be used like a punch bag and a Guinea pig, and not being able to see the light of day, probably for the rest of their miserable fucking lives!'_

He looked down at the floor as Sarah stared at him, her eyes wide and blazing,

'What have you got to say about that then?' she demanded, 'Well?'

'Sarah… that isn't how I do things,' he said, and looked at her sympathetically, but Sarah wasn't buying it.

She had almost let herself get fooled by his apparently caring nature, but she had remembered why she was here now; she was on a mission for Shinra, and she wouldn't be led astray, no matter how much bullshit they fed her.

Of course, there was no way she could go around telling everyone that – she had to pretend to be fooled by them, so that maybe they would start trusting her and she could someday get back to Shinra in one piece… hopefully.

'Then what is?' she spat

Demetrio rubbed his eyes wearily.

Our policy for Shark is much like the one for SOLDIER. We scout out people who are strong and ask them to undergo the training and treatments. I'm afraid all I can say about the base that you grew up in, is that it was rogue. I didn't have the time to visit all our bases individually, so I didn't know what was going on. It wasn't until your escape that the conditions there were brought to my attention and by then it was too late to help you.'

Sarah didn't think she had ever even wanted to hit Tyler this much before – this guy was an idiot!

She knew fine well that he had visited her base, because her base had been producing the most results. Also, the stupid git had been there when her parents were killed! Why hadn't she been put in a normal family to be raised as a normal girl?

If SHARK were anything like he was saying they were, there was no way in hell that things would have gotten this bad.

However, she just lowered her head and looked ashamed. But then it hit her

'What about the other girls in the base?' she asked, her head jerking up so she could look at him, 'video footage was sent to Shinra of them bound, beaten and starving, and Tyler saying to come back over to Wutai or they would be killed!'

'Ha!' Sarah thought, 'gotcha!'

D.Z stared at her for a moment, his face blank.

'That,' he said, finally recovering, 'was a completely faked bit of footage. The girls in question are currently residing here in this base, in perfectly good conditions, and have been since your escape,'

Sarah frowned at him,

'Prove it,' she said and folded her arms, 'I want to see them, now.'

'I'm afraid that is not possible,' he said

'Why not?'

He smiled slightly before answering,

'You do realise that it is the middle of the night, don't you?'

'Huh?' Sarah was completely caught off guard by this and glanced at her watch, only to find that it was broken, 'really?'

He nodded.

'Sarah,' he said slowly, pushing himself off the desk and walking slowly towards her, 'I know that you have acted against SHARK these past few months, and I can understand why. I propose starting again from a clean slate for the both of us'

He came to a stop in front of her barely a foot away, and looked down into her eyes

'What do you say,' he said, his voice lowering to a purr.

Under any other circumstances Sarah would have kneed him in the groin or at least took a step back, but she couldn't risk making him angry.

She swallowed slightly, once again feeling nervous with him being so close and made herself meet his gaze.

'Sounds good,' she answered and nearly yelped in surprise when he reached up and gently fan his fingers down the side of her face, and lowered his eyes briefly to her lips.

'Oh god!' she thought, her stomach turning, 'he's going to kiss me!'

His face began to move slowly closer to hers

'Frick! Think of something else!'

His lips were an inch away

'Pancakes! Flapjacks! Ummmm – CANDY FLAVOURED SPROUTS!'

He kissed her gently and his hand cupped her face

'Ahhhhhh! Cupcakes, _peanut butter! _SEPHIROTH IN A TUTU!'

At this, she barely managed to contain her snort of laughter, but had to pull away from his kiss and looked down to hide her grin.

'Um… I'm sorry, I-I just um…' she stammered, covering up her laugh pretty well. D.Z just took this as her being nervous

'It's okay,' he whispered and hooked his finger under her chin and brought her face up to look at him, 'I'm not going to hurt you,'

Once again he moved closer to her

'Oh fuck…'

* * *

_**Okay, I'm sorry it took me so long to update but I've had MEGA writers block! But I think I'm getting back into the swing of things.**_

_**Please be kind and review - just once?**_

_**Until next chapter then...**_

_**Bye -Bye  
**_


	25. Chapter 25

_**This chapter is kind of a filler before the action start, so I will be aiming to make the next chapters more exciting, so please don't be too harsh. Enjoy...?**_

_**By the way I would like to thank all reviewers for restoring my faith in my writing ability - however small it may be!  
**_

_**

* * *

**_

**Chapter 25**

'This indeed is very disturbing news,' president Shinra said, as Sephiroth finished briefing him on the mission to Wutai

The silver haired General stood in front of the President's desk as he spoke, Tseng, Reno, Rude, Genesis and Zack making up the rest of the company.

Tseng, Sephiroth and Rude were as stoic as ever, but hidden in the backs of their minds, their emotions were raging.

Only Sephiroth and the President knew the truth about what had happened, the rest of them thought of her departure as betrayal.

Reno was fidgeting uncomfortably, looking unsure as to whether he wanted to yell with rage, sadness or despair, or maybe a combination of all three.

Genesis' bright blue eyes seemed to have lost that special glint that made him so unique, and he was just standing, his face blank and not paying much attention to the conversation happening before him. However, beneath the surface, anger was boiling within him – How could Sarah have done this, even after saying defiantly in front of a room full of people that Shinra were like her family.

He remembered the first time he had ever saw her. She had been walking down a hallway, away from presumably her first class of the day. She had looked very close to tears, and didn't even notice where she was walking, at least until she had walked headlong into Sephiroth.

She had looked up in shock, her eyes round and slightly fearful as she squeaked an apology. Sephiroth had walked by, barely paying her any attention, but Angeal and Genesis had looked at her with much interest.

The first thing Genesis had noticed was her eyes; they had seemed so open, clear and innocent. It had been like a breath of fresh air to not see eyes in which you could practically see every person they had killed. Shinra did that to a lot of people, and some had even driven themselves into madness from the onslaught of guilt, but that was a rare occurrence.

He had just grinned at her, but hadn't wanted to seem too interested in the eyes of his friends, so he just made a joke and walked away; he probably would have got a lecture from both of them if he had expressed any interest in a cadet.

Mind you, Sephiroth would have been a fine one to talk; he had gone and fell for her, even though he still wouldn't admit it. For quite a while, Genesis believed he had feelings for her too – she just seemed so perfect, and the fact that she didn't even realise how perfect she was made her even better – it gave her an innocence and carefreeness that made her who she was.

However, after getting to know her, he became to think of her more as a sister or a best friend than anything else. The two of them had got along great, and that would most likely have been ruined by a relationship.

Genesis glanced up briefly and saw Zack giving his account on things, his face paler than usual.

'The puppy' had also been very fond of her, everyone had known that. The first day the two of them had met was in the gym when Genesis had finally decided to talk to her. She had been standing at the water cooler, looking as though she had already been at the gym for a couple of hours even though it was her day off. Genesis had walked in shortly after Angeal and Zack and spotted her straight away. She had been staring at him in surprise since he hadn't been wearing his coat and he had caught her at it. He would still laugh when remembering the way she had turned away blushing from him.

The second time he caught her staring, he went over to talk to her, and then dragged her over to meet his companions. Zack had taken an immediate liking to her and Sarah was taken aback by this since she was generally disliked within the cadets.

Angeal had never been as close to her as they had, but they had still been good friends. Genesis wondered how he would take it when he found out that she had re-joined Wutai after swearing how much she hated them. He would probably say that she had disgraced her pride and honour as a SOLDIER, and maybe he would be right…

'_There has to be some explanation for this!'_ Zack thought desperately when he finished giving his report, 'There is no way that Sarah would do this – _no way!'_

She had always been so honest and open with them; they could see the truth in her eyes whenever she said how much she wanted revenge on Wutai for what they had did.

This was all just so screwed up…

* * *

About an hour later, Tseng found himself slumped in a chair in his quarters.

'Sarah…' he thought miserably, 'why did you do this...?'

As a Turk, he had been trained to not show emotion, to become a ruthless killer and not feel remorse for his actions. For his entire career he had been able to do this well. After the first two people he killed, who happened to be Sarah's parents, he realised how important it was to shut off emotions, and he had managed.

However, seeing the daughter of those two people had affected him more than it should have. It shouldn't have mattered to him, but it shook him to the very core. The worst part had been realising that he was falling in love with her.

Together, he and D.Z had set out her fate. If he had not hesitated at the prospect of killing a baby, she would never had to have been raised the way she had, but then again, she would never have had the chance to live.

Would it have been better for her and everyone else if he _had_ killed her?

'_No!' _he thought suddenly and clenched his fist, 'I can't afford to start thinking like this; what's done is done.'

He slumped backwards and closed his eyes.

What if he had made different decisions in a more recent part of his life?

'The ball…' he muttered, opening his eyes and looking at the ceiling.

He thought about it often, mostly in his dreams. He remembered the slight blush on her face, and the nervous light that danced in her eyes as they met his. He too, had actually felt the slight tingle of nerves as he slowly closed the gap between them and kissed her.

He had felt the rush of adrenaline run through her as she kissed back slightly.

What if he hadn't pulled away…?

What if she had never found out he had killed her parents…?

What if.

What if, what if, what if.

There were just too many to count, and not only on his part. Many other people in Shinra would have a few 'what if's when it came to Sarah.

How was it, that one girl who had popped up on the radar out of nowhere could have made such a big impact on the company and the people in it?

To top it off, Sarah had had feelings for him too. It was surprising how much hope that had given him when Reno had said it, and also how much pain. It would have been easier for him if she hadn't.

'I wonder if she still has feelings for me…' he wondered

He doubted it; finding out he was partly responsible for the way her life turned out would have put a stopper on that.

_What are you doing right now Sarah…?_

_

* * *

_

Now, it wasn't like Sarah hadn't been kissed before, it _had_ happened twice now courtesy of Tseng and Reno, but those kisses had lasted for about a second or two, plus they weren't people she despised.

This was different.

This was _veeerrrry_ different.

D.Z had hooked his finger under her chin and was drawing closer to her again. It was all she could do to not vomit or punch the bastard as his lips touched hers for the second time that night.

At first it was very gentle, and Sarah clenched her fist as she forced herself to respond to him. She thought she was doing quite well having not killed him yet. The only remaining problem was that she had never actually kissed anyone properly before, and therefore nearly gagged when D.Z's tongue ran across her lips before slipping into her mouth.

'Oh god!' Sarah thought, squeezing her eyes tightly as he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her body closer to his as his other had ran round to the back of her head, forcing her to deepen the kiss, 'I think I'm going to be sick!'

Sarah knew she had to at least pretend to be enjoying this, so she gingerly placed on his chest, and slid the other one up to his shoulder and around his neck.

She was concentrating so hard on doing this right so he wouldn't suspect anything; she hadn't noticed him slowly moving them back until the back of her legs hit the sofa. Before she could do anything though, he pushed her and she fell backwards onto the sofa.

'No…' she thought as a wave of panic and nausea hit her, 'this is wrong, I don't want to be doing this,'

D.Z was smirking as he pinned her to the sofa and continued the assault on her mouth.

'No…. no, no, no, no, no. I've got to stop this! Please stop!'

Somehow, Sarah thought he could hear what she was thinking because he chuckled before trailing kisses along her jaw and down to her neck.

'Ugh… what's this I'm feeling? It feels… good? _NO!_ This is wrong! This is _D.Z! _My enemy! A monster! The bastard who ruined my life!'

She could feel the heat rising in her body, and her breath was coming in sharp, slightly ragged bursts.

One of his hands began moving up from her hip towards her chest and without thinking she pushed him away.

'I-I…' she stammered, unable to stop the tears pooling in her eyes. She felt dirty, used, like a common whore.

For a moment, D.Z looked angry, his face flushed and eyes blazing, but after a moment he calmed himself and sighed.

'Of course,' he said in what Sarah could tell was a forced calm voice, 'my apologies. It is very rarely that one comes across such extravagant beauty,'

Sarah was on the point of slapping the smarmy bastard. Instead she just swallowed hard and forced herself to say, 'I'm sorry, I just haven't um… well, err,'

But thankfully he cut her off with a chuckle, 'It's alright,' he said huskily and knelt down by the sofa next to her. He cupped her face in his hand

'No need to rush,' he said, 'we have all the time in the world'

He kissed her again on the lips before pulling back and looking at her for a couple of seconds.

'Perhaps you should get some rest,' he said softly, 'I've had quarters prepared for you. The guard outside will show you to them,'

Sarah nodded and he stood up and offered her his hand. She took it unsurely and he helped her up to her feet off the sofa.

An image suddenly flashed in her mind of Sephiroth offering her his hand after her having laughed so hard that she couldn't get up on her own.

This sent a sudden twinge to her stomach, but she pushed it aside knowing that she had to keep her head in the moment. D.Z walked her to the door, opened it and told the guard outside to show her to her rooms.

Sarah followed the man silently, observing that this wasn't the way back to the cell she had woken up in.

A little while later and they reached their destination, much to Sarah's surprise. The hallway was actually a hallway for starters – not just a cave tunnel. However it did look a bit like a hall in the Shinra building.

The guard gave her a key card and an envelope.

'That's the card for your door,' he said, 'the code is in the envelope,'

Without waiting another second, he turned and marched off back the way they had come.

Sarah was feeling a bit confused by now; she wasn't dead, and by the looks of it she had proper quarters.

'Oh well,' she thought as she inserted the card and typed in the code in the number pad, 'now all I have to do is continue surviving, stop D.Z from trying to do me, and come up with a plan as to how I can get out of here as quickly as possible.'

* * *

The next morning was a strange and difficult one for the inhabitants of Shinra.

Angeal, not having had a mission that lasted into the early hours of the morning, got up before his friends and sat reading in the SOLDIER area, waiting for them to wake up.

When he finally heard signs of life, he looked up to see Genesis slumbering down the stairs. Angeal frowned at his friends' appearance; he was slightly pale and looked as though he hadn't slept, and most importantly, Loveless wasn't already in his hands to begin his morning after a mission ritual of reciting it.

'Tough mission?' Angeal asked as Genesis came forward and slumped in a seat opposite him

'You have no idea…' he replied miserably, and launched into an explanation

Shinra had been expecting an attack on the building last night and had therefore sent all non-essential staff home early; however, the attack never happened. All the troops were focused in Wutai, hoping to catch them off-guard by outnumbering them – it had worked. Most of their troops were decimated, a mere handful of them returning alive, and only a few able to return to work the next day.

Angeal listened patiently to him, but he could tell there was something else coming, because this wasn't something that could bother Genesis so much, which sounded cold, but it was what made him a good SOLDIER.

'And to top it all off,' Genesis said, 'Sarah… she-'

But his voice faltered slightly, as if saying it would make it come true, undeniable. Angeal frowned and sat up looking worried,

'Is she alright?' he asked,

Genesis sighed and let his head fall back so he was looking at the ceiling,

'She's defected to Wutai,' he said solemnly

Angeal was silent, too shocked for words

'Sephiroth and your little puppy were there. She challenged Sephiroth but managed to escape half way through the battle,'

Angeal shook his head slowly, 'no,' he said quietly, 'there must be an explanation for this'

Genesis tilted his head to look at him,

'Sephiroth's saying nothing,' he said, then added angrily, 'he doesn't even seem to care! It wouldn't kill him to show a bit of emotion when it comes to someone he cares about,'

'That's just the way he is though,' Angeal said and considered the situation for a moment, 'was she with anyone else at the time?'

'Huh? Oh yeah, that Tyler guy,' Genesis spat, but Angeal found this interesting, 'your little protégé over heard them saying something along the lines of doing anything, and wanting to see someone,'

Genesis looked back at the ceiling grumpily again, but Angeal sat up a little straighter.

'The girls…' he muttered, causing his friend to give him a quizzical look, 'she's went to rescue the girls that she grew up with,'

'Hello, that's what last night's mission was all about!'

'Not if their location was unknown; it could have been a cover up to give Sarah a chance to get in, rescue the girls and get information at the same time – undercover!'

Genesis sat up slowly, thoughtfully, and Angeal could see a flicker of hope dash across the red heads face.

'I hope you're right…' he said to the floor

* * *

'_never lose faith in me, please?'_

These words weighed in Sephiroth's mind the whole night, and into the next morning

For some reason, these words had touched him greatly. To him, they showed that while she could be childish and funny, she was still a mature and responsible young woman. Sarah had known what this operation meant, and how it would affect her reputation at Shinra.

She knew that she would have to do things that would challenge her morality, and maybe even make the President lose faith in her, but she had asked him not to.

Perhaps the part Sephiroth was most uncomfortable about was having to encourage her bad name, and lie to everyone, including his friends, about the real reason why she had went over.

Sephiroth stared blankly at the paper work on his desk and idly tapped his pen against it.

He hadn't been surprised at most people's reactions to the news last night, but one person had bugged him more than he liked to admit – Tseng.

The god-almighty bastard who had somehow managed to win Sarah's heart, then not even bat an eye lid to the news of her disappearance.

Mind you, Sephiroth was one to talk; he had no idea how he would have reacted to news like this. Maybe he would have been the same as ever, on the surface at least.

But _Gaia!_ Did that idiot not realise how lucky he is!

He had managed to get Sarah! She had fallen for that damn Turk, who wasn't even good enough for her, and on top of that, she had _slept_ with him!

He still got angry whenever he thought about that conversation. He remembered that they had just been training when Sephiroth's phone had rung, and Sarah's too not long after it.

_Just then, Sarah's phone also went off. She reluctantly slid of Genesis' back to fish it out of her pocket._

_'Hello?' she said into it_

_Sephiroth couldn't hear what the other person was saying,_

_'Yeah? Oh, Hey Tseng,' she said cheerfully as she recognised his voice, 'you sound different on the phone'_

_Hid stomach suddenly clenched. The Turk? It sounded like they were on good terms…_

_Were they together?_

_He watched, slightly jealous as Sarah gave a small silent giggle_

_'Okay, thanks' she said into the receiver, but didn't lower the phone yet_

_'Yeah, sure,' she said and smiled, 'I'd love to'_

_He watched as she smiled and blushed slightly, clenching his fist at his side._

_Sarah closed her phone still smiling slightly, clearly unaware of how that conversation had sounded to the other four in the room._

_Sephiroth forced himself to keep his face expressionless, but his anger was boiling just beneath the surface_

_'What?' she asked, nonplussed_

_'So the two of you talked it out then?' Genesis grinned, but he could tell it was rather forced, _

_'Yeah, last night,' she smiled,_

_'Really?' Genesis said_

_'Mmm-Hmm. I couldn't sleep so I went to get a drink and he was still up so we got to talking. We were only talking for about half an hour or so, but still, I didn't get much sleep after that,' she said, not really realising how that had sounded._

_Sephiroth felt his stomach suddenly lurch unpleasantly; was she saying what he thought she was…?_

_Sarah caught sight of Zack who was grinning broadly_

_'So... you just went straight up to bed after you finished talking, did you?' he snickered and Sarah looked at him as if he were mad. Sephiroth was close to stabbing the puppy._

_'Er, yeah,' she said like she was pointing out the obvious. Zack let out a snort of laughter. _

_Sephiroth's mind went blind with rage, and without making a sound he turned and walked out of the training room, making the people he passed cower in fear._

Sephiroth dropped his pen and sighed angrily.

What if he had been more open in his feelings towards her? No, who was he kidding? She had never shown any interest in him before.

He stood up angrily, deciding he really needed to kill something, and stormed out of his office towards the training room.

* * *

Having been unconscious for a fair while that day, Sarah didn't bother sleeping. Instead, she started to make a mental checklist of the things she had to do before getting the hell out of Wutai.

So far, her top three priorities were

**-Make sure the girls were okay and fit to make an escape when the time came**

**-Get plenty of information on SHARK including numbers and any special weapons**

And finally

**-Kick the living crap out of D.Z and make sure the perverted freak endured as much pain as was possible before sending him to the burning pits of hell to suffer for all of eternity, or so she liked to think.**

In the morning, D.Z came to get her in person, and walked her into a large stone hall which Sarah guessed was a training room. She could have cried when he told her she would be training here with SHARK operatives, but she just sucked it up; this would be a perfect opportunity to test out how good they all were, and get a rough idea of just how many there were.

Of course, when she walked in she stopped dead in her tracks.

There were hundreds of them. Literally hundreds. Spanning the entire hall which was the size of several football pitches.

'All these are SHARK operatives?' she asked weakly and D.Z nodded

_Shinra are screwed…

* * *

_

_**Okay, firstly, not sure if footbal exists in this world, but that was just a size referance,**_

_**Secondly, please don't get too bored and give up on this story =) the excitment is coming... hopefully lol**_

_**But thanks for reading and I hope it's not too long before I update!**_

_**P.S reviews help with the last part...  
**_


	26. Chapter 26

_**Okay, so Sarah is now officially in Wutai and knows what she has to do but I have made a bit of a dramatic plot twist near the end of this chap, and I'm just wondering whether I haave maybe gone too far with it. I'd like to know what you think, but I hope you enjoy it...**_

**Chapter 26**

'Okay,' Sarah thought looking around the hall as D.Z left her, 'day 1 of being back with Wutai, and by the looks of it I am again, the only girl who is fighting... yay,'

Sarah let out a deep breath but suddenly sucked one in as a loud beep sounded and there was a flurry of footsteps as every person in the hall assembled into groups of about 20 or so.

Sarah noticed that each of them had a number emblazoned on their uniforms where there would usually be a breast pocket on a shirt. The groups seemed to be determined by this number.

The ones closest to her, the smallest group of about 7, had a gold number 21. She looked at them curiously for a moment, then saw to her horror that Tyler was in that group. He spotted her and said something to the rest of the group before approaching her.

Sarah clenched her fist briefly as she turned to meet him.

'You been given a number yet?' he shot at her, clearly not wanting to waste any time on her company

'Nope,' she said shortly and he sneered at her

'Fine,' he said, and turned to look around the hall, 'the number we are given indicate out fighting ability, and we are sorted into groups. That way we can train large numbers at once and still manage to meet everybody's needs,'

Sarah nodded, 'Sort of like SOLDIER,' she mused

'Number 1's are the newbies or people who really don't have any aptitude for fighting. Ranks go up to 21, the elite of the elite,'

Sarah almost snorted at the way he was disguising his bragging

'Right,' she said, 'so where am I?'

Tyler smirked, 'I sincerely hope you've improved since we used to train together,' he said

Sarah gave him a filthy look, 'I could kick your arse any time,'

Now it was Tyler's turn to snort with laughter. Without saying anything else he turned and led her away to the far end of the hall. Sarah raised her eyes at him in disbelief as he muttered something to the instructor and they both smirked

'Well then,' he said, turning back to her, 'I hope you're able to keep up with a bunch of rank 1's'

Then he turned again and walked away laughing. Another beep sounded and caused Sarah to jump again, as walls fell down out of the ceiling attached to strong metal wires and attached them to the floor, effectively making separate training spaces for each group.

Sarah actually raised an eyebrow at this, 'Impressive,' she muttered, but didn't have much more time to reflect on this before she was ushered into the front line where the instructor could keep an eye on her.

To her surprise, she found she actually wasn't the only girl in that group.

'You there,' the instructor barked at her, 'you think you can fight?'

Sarah just grinned confidently and replied, 'I like to think so,'

'Hmph,' he sneered, 'don't' expect to go far, no girls gonna get past rank 2.'

Far from being discouraged Sarah just laughed derisively, 'Yeah and no-one ever thought a girl would get into SOLDIER and I still managed that, didn't I?'

A murmur ran through the group when she said this

'Did she just say SOLDIER?'

'Shinra?'

'Must be the one that was in the papers…'

The man in front of her studied her for a couple of minutes before he spat angrily on the floor.

'Think you so good 'cos yer got into SOLDIER? We'll see about that. Today ladies and gents, were gonna play a game; yer all gonna fight this'n here in turn, 'n if she beats yer all, she moves up ter rank 2, got it?'

He shot Sarah a contemptuous glance before stepping back and ordering the rest of the class to line up, which they did so reluctantly, each of them determined not to go first. After what seemed and age, they were in order, a rather weedy looking boy of about 19 in the front, holding a sword gingerly in his hands.

Sarah confidently drew out her own sword; the one she had bought yesterday with Genesis, and the class eyed it nervously. It was of much better quality then the ones they were holding – obviously they didn't get better ones until they were a higher rank.

She raised her empty hand and beckoned the guy forward with her fingers and twirled her sword expertly with the other.

The boy charged. It was over within the blink of an eye. He had raised the sword above his head and ran straight at her, forgetting to worry about defending himself. She quickly side stepped him and he stumbled, but before he had the chance to straighten himself, she had her blade pressing into his back.

'Next,' the instructor called and this time a girl charged forward, looking a little more confident than the guy before. It seemed that she had noticed the boy's mistake because she remembered to keep her defence, but it only took a couple swing of Sarah's sword before she too was defeated.

It was like this with rest of them too, some slightly more confident than the others, but the fact still remained that she managed to beat them without using any of her augmented strength.

When the last person had her blade at his chest, she sheathed her sword and looked toward the instructor.

'Well then,' she said simply, 'I believe that makes me rank two in what must be a record time of fifteen minutes,'

All he could do was growl at her before leading her away to the rank 2 class. This one passed pretty much the same as her first, but she did at least manage to gather some information from that class, such as the fact that only rank 5's and above were offered the chance to take the SHARK treatments, and that only two girls had made it past rank 2 and that had only happened two minutes before she entered the room.

She was given the same challenge as before and won without a hassle, but she could tell that this class was a bit better than the other as a couple of they had even lasted more than five seconds.

The rest of the rank 2's stood flabbergasted as she announced that she had made rank 3 in just over half an hour of beginning rank 1.

They should have seen it coming really, what with her being in SOLDIER and all…

By the time it reached lunch at 12:30 she was already Rank 11, having skipped a few ranks out of sheer boredom.

She grabbed a plate of the most disgusting looking slime she had ever seen and sat down at the edge of the hall by herself, but her solitude didn't last as the hall became fuller. A group of men ranging from late teens to early twenties sat at her table.

She looked up at them as they sat down and gave them a slight nod which they returned.

'You new?' the guy sitting across to the right from her asked and she nodded, 'What's your name?'

Sarah studied him for a couple of seconds before replying, 'Sarah. Yours?'

'Blade,' he said, and in response to her raised eye brow he added, 'it's a nick name, don't know my real one; I was out in a base when I was about a week old – parents didn't want me anymore,'

'I'm sorry,' she said, but he shook his head,

'It's no big deal,' he said lightly, 'same for most of us here'

She looked across at the others who nodded.

'What about you?' Blade asked. Sarah scratched her head thoughtfully

'My parents were Shinra scientists. Shark kidnapped them to get weapon designs then killed them. They put me in a base to be used as a Guinea pig,' she said concisely

'And you actually came back here?' the guy next to blade asked disbelievingly

'Turns out it was actually someone from Shinra who pulled the trigger,' she shrugged, even though she felt ill talking about it

'Huh?' he said thoughtfully, and then shook his head quickly as if remembering something, 'I'm Jonas, by the way. So, er… what base were you at? Mine was Panther.'

Sarah raised her eyebrows, 'I wasn't aware that they had names,' she said truthfully, and thought for a moment, 'do you know Rank 21st's Tyler?'

The others nodded, and she said, 'I was at the same base as him,'

'No way!' Blade said, 'me too! Go Alpha base, eh?'

Sarah smiled slightly. It was rather disturbing meeting someone who she hadn't even known existed, even though they had grown up in the same facility.

'Wait…' he said suddenly, 'so _you're_ the one who escaped?'

So they'd heard about it then…

She nodded, but to her surprise Blade let out a laugh of delight, and she looked up startled

'Then I have got to say, you are undoubtedly _the_ best person in the history of this planet!'

She was dumfounded, 'How?' she asked

'_How!__' _he repeated incredulously, 'you're escape is the only reason that everyone here is no longer locked in underground cells for absolutely no reason, starving and without and light!'

'Huh?'

'Come off it! You didn't know?' Jonas laughed, 'You're like, our saviour!'

'What?'

'Even Tyler admitted that he's glad you did it! You brought us all together so we wouldn't have to suffer in solitude any longer,'

By now, people from other table had begun listening in and whispers were spreading through the hall like wildfire. One girl form the next table actually got up and nervously came over to her

'I-is it true, that you're the one wh-who-' she stammered

'You better believe it sister,' Blade said happily and pulled her down onto the seat next to him, 'the hero of SHARK!'

'Heroine,' she corrected as if was an automatic reflex, and Sarah genuinely smiled

'She is actually my sister by the way, twins actually, her name's Fuchsia,' he said brightly

'Like the flower?' Sarah asked and Rose nodded

'One of the older girls named me after she had been studying plant life,' she blushed

'It's a nice name,' Sarah smiled, 'my name's Sarah. You're Rank 2 aren't you?'

'You remembered,' she said brightly and Sarah nodded, smiling

'Yeah, sorry that I was a bit harsh on everyone, but I was just peeved that I was being made to start from the bottom'

The girl opposite her giggled slightly and just then another group of people appeared behind her and a similar conversation ensued. When the third set of people appeared she was beginning to feel slightly bemused, and by the fourth downright scared.

Finally the damned annoying beep went off again signalling that lunch was over. She waited for most people to go before getting up herself, and asked Fuchsia to wait with her.

'Were you at the same base as your brother?' she asked as they slowly walked back to the training hall and she replied with the affirmative, 'then how come I never saw you there?'

'You'd be surprised at how many people there were at each of the bases,' she said sadly, 'I think there must have been about forty people in each one,'

'What?' Sarah said sharply coming to a halt, 'as far as I knew there were only six girls including me, and then Tyler,'

Fuchsia shook her head, 'I always knew there were a lot of us, but I also knew that a group of girls were kept isolated from the rest of us; that must have been you…'

'But why…?'

'Maybe because you were the one being experimented on,' she said timidly and Sarah sighed

'Yeah, maybe…'

The two of them reached the training hall again and agreed to meet up afterwards before going their separate ways.

Sarah found her way back to the Rank 11 group and got giving a sparring partner for about 10 minutes. Instead of fighting the whole class as she had done before, the instructor challenged her himself to save wasting the others time.

Sarah was actually glad for the change in pace fighting him brought. Plus, he wasn't that much of a bad person; he actually complemented her on her style and form, and overall he was impressed. After several rounds of him being beaten, he gave her permission to advance to the next Rank, amazingly with no hard feelings between the two of them.

In fact, just before she left he pulled her aside and said to her quietly,

'I'm glad you're here now, we all are. Hopefully you'll be able to make some things around here change,'

But before she could ask what he had meant by this he had turned away to help some of his students. Sarah frowned after him for a moment before opening the door onto the next area where the class was already divided up into pairs and sparring. The Rank 12 instructor saw her enter and approached where she was standing. He looked at her for a moment before speaking

'So you're the one that caused all the fuss at lunch,' he mused, looking down at her thoughtfully

'Sorry about that,' she said emotionlessly, feigning interest in what was going on in the room.

He shook his head slightly.

'Look, I know you're good – you must be if you moved up 12 Ranks in the space of a few hours, so I've asked the other instructors if you can help me with this lot for the rest of today and we'll start you from Rank 17 in the morning, how's that sound?'

Sarah considered it for a moment, then said with a wry smile, 'well I was hoping to make 21st by the end of today, but I guess that'll have to do,'

He actually laughed a little at this.

'Good,' he said, 'I've got one guy in here who's lacking a little confidence which is holding him back. Think you could do something with him?'

'Sure,' she said, though she wasn't too enthusiastic about helping to train Wutai's troops.

The Instructor beckoned someone forward and he did so seemingly reluctantly, but when he was told that Sarah would be mentoring him that day he looked a little pale and his eyes widened at her.

'Hey I don't bite,' she smiled but that didn't seem to make any difference because he still looked terrified as they were led to a free training room where individual practices were held

On the way out the instructor gave her look which clearly said, 'good luck' before leaving.

There was about a minute of silence while Sarah observed the boy who refused to meet her gaze. For some strange reason he looked very familiar. Maybe she had just passed by him in the hall or something. However, she just knew that wasn't it.

His hair was cut short and was a shade darker than her brown hair, and his eyes were slightly greener than hers. She almost felt like his features were nearly the same as… never mind. She didn't even know herself.

'Sit down,' she said finally and the boy looked up at her dumbly, so she repeated her order, before seating herself on the floor and crossing her legs

He looked at her unsurely before seating himself opposite her, a couple of metres away. Not wanting to make him more uncomfortable she didn't react to this.

'So,' she said and looked across to him, 'let's start with names shall we. My name is Sarah. What's yours?'

'Brandon,' he muttered to the floor and pain shot quickly through her head and she clapped her hand to it. It was like she was on the verge of unlocking some memory but her brain wouldn't let her.

Brandon started at her when she did this but she just shook her head

'Migraine,' she lied, 'been coming on all day. Right so erm, your instructor feels you're not reaching your full potential, so he's asked me to see if I can do anything with you,' she started off but realised she really didn't know what to say

'So umm… What's up?'

He looked at her blankly.

'There's obviously something on your mind that is preventing you from performing properly,' she said, then remembered her first conversation with Sephiroth, 'How are you finding it here?'

Brandon looked at her incredulously and then burst out angrily, 'You mean in a place run by the people who kidnapped my parents and little sister, tortured and killed them, then stuck me in a place to be trained to fight for the wrong bloody side!'

Sarah was shocked – there were others who felt the same as her then…

Brandon got up and started pacing

'It's all bloody fucked up! You gave me hope, you know that? Hope that one day _I_ could get away too, and start building a life outside of these walls, maybe see if I had any living relatives but then you come waltzing back in here and I finally understand that it was all a bunch of lies!'

Sarah stared up at him speechless

'I- I had no idea anyone else felt that way,' she said quietly and he turned on her angrily

'Well SURPRISE 'cos a lot of us do!'

Sarah stood up as he continued his ranting

'And you're probably going to go and report me to that _git_ who started all this crap! Heck, I might as well go and say all this to his stupid fucking face!'

To emphasise his point he actually started storming towards the entrance but Sarah grabbed his arm which he tried, in vain, to yank out of her grasp.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' she said quietly

'Why not!' he demanded rather childishly and Sarah turned to face him seriously

'Because you'll be killed and he won't even give a second thought to the matter, and also' she said before he could interrupt, 'I feel the same way you do, why do you think I escaped in the first place? Because of SHARK my parents are dead and I ended up here,'

'Then why did you come back?' he snarled, stepping forward

'Why else?' she said calmly looking into his eyes, 'to get revenge. And to get the people who don't want to be here out,'

He stared at her for a full five second before stepping back slightly

'Really?'

'Really,' Sarah said with a small smile, 'except the last part, I only decided on that about 20 seconds ago. Originally I only came here to rescue the girls I grew up with, before I realised how many people there actually were here, and before you told me how you felt,'

Brandon now seemed lost for words

'So you risked getting killed, and having to put up the torture which you managed to escape, just to get a few people out,' he said slowly

'Well yeah,' she said awkwardly scratching her head, 'and also to get information and an idea of how many people are here so I can prepare for when I bring SHARK down,'

Here he actually laughed, 'you and what army!' he said

'The Shinra army, along with SOLDIER and the TURKS,' she said seriously. Brandon was stunned

'Seriously?' he asked weakly, as if his dreams were coming true, and Sarah nodded.

'I am actually working for Shinra as an operative of SOLDIER. The President personally gave me the order to pretend to defect so I could rescue the girls and get information. The rest of Shinra think I've really switched sides,'

Again he was silent for a moment, but then became suspicious,

'How do I know you're telling the truth and not trying to trick me into admitting I'm against SHARK?' he demanded. Sarah looked up at him calmly

'How do I know you haven't been ordered to find out whether or not I'm still working for Shinra so you can report me?'

His face went blank

'Look,' Sarah said, running a hand through her loose brown hair, 'we aren't going to get anywhere if we don't trust each other. So, can you trust me?'

Their eyes met and Sarah looked at him honestly, and finally he nodded.

'Hopefully this will be the start to our freedom,' he said and offered her his hand to shake, which she took, smiling

'Yeah, I hope so too,'

After that, they finally got onto his training, and just as Sarah expected he fought without a problem – getting the confession off his chest must have help, and to be honest, it had helped Sarah too. They trained for a couple of hours, before they decided to take a break, and sat down on the floor once again.

'So,' Sarah said, 'do you remember anything about your family?'

Brandon looked up at her, then scratched the back of his head

'Not much,' he said honestly, 'I was seven when they were captured. My sister would have been about 20 months old. She was called Sarah too. Heh, I can remember her always bugging me to play with her. I always used to pretend to be annoyed, but I really loved her,'

Brandon looked up at Sarah who was smiling gently

'You reminded me of her; you have the same eyes,'

Sarah smiled and blushed slightly, 'What about your parents?'

'I think they both worked for Shinra. Scientists I think..' he trailed off but Sarah looked up in surprise

'Hey, mine too,' she said brightly but then suddenly froze, 'um, what were your parent's names?'

Her wide eyes met his equally stunned ones, 'I think my mother was called Clarissa and my father-

'-Julian…' Sarah breathed then clapped her hand to her mouth in shock when he nodded and they stared at each other for over a minute in complete silence before Sarah finally lowered her hand and said with tear filled eyes, 'So… you're my…'

'And you're…

'Holy crab paste apple munching basilisks on toast,' she muttered, then suddenly burst out laughing and threw herself backwards so she was lying on the floor, 'oh my god… you're.. we're… I have a… _brother!_'

At this Brandon started laughing too, tears of joy forming in his eyes too

'You're my little sister!' he exclaimed happily, 'I thought you were dead!'

'I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU EXISTED!' Sarah exclaimed, honestly way too hyper to be having a conversation like thin than was healthy.

He laughed again, 'I can remember – you used to call me 'Bandie' because you couldn't say Brandon!'

Sarah sat up laughing with tears running down her face, 'and I think whenever I talked about you, I always called you 'my big buvva bandie'!'

'Oh god! I'd completely forgotten about that!' he laughed,

Sarah fell back laughing on the floor, honestly not able to recall the last time she was this happy. For several minutes, neither of them was able to say anything else

'Frick,' she gasped finally, thinking about how lucky this meeting had been. If the instructors hadn't-

'Hold on!' she said sitting bolt upright, Brandon doing the same at her outburst, 'the instructors! Did they know you had a sister?'

'Yeah, I think Rank 11 and 12 do; they asked me if I remembered my family ages ago. Why?'

'The Rank 11 instructor said something to me about hoping that things would change now that I'm here… you don't think that…'

'Yeah… an' I'm sure we could get others too…'

They looked at each other thinking the exact same thing with huge grins on their faces – this will work!

* * *

_**Well, there you go!**_

_**Like I said at the beginning, If you think I've went too far with this whole 'brother' thing, please let me know, because I was seriously wandering whether it was a bit much.**_

_**But still, thanks for reading, and I'll update soon, I hope.**_

_**UnchainedMelody94  
**_


	27. Chapter 27

**_Okay then here's chapter 27. Don't worry though, for all you Sephy lovers out there, you'll get some stuff form him next chap!_**

**Chapter 27**

'Right,' Sarah sighed as she and Brandon sat sifting through files hours later, 'so how many does that give us in total?'

After they had finished their training, the finally reunited siblings had got straight down to business, not wanting to waste any time, especially not Sarah who had the added pressure of D.Z wanting to see her that night. 1000 gil to who guesses why…

'Umm,' Brandon murmured as he ran his eyes down the sheet he was holding, 'only 37 – none of them above Rank 12,'

'Damn!' Sarah muttered and slumped forward onto the table, resting her head onto her arms, 'how many did you say there were in the base again?'

'1186,' He replied dismally, 'including instructors, military personnel and possible recruits,'

Sarah gave a helpless moan in response.

This was hopeless; for the past couple of hours, she and her brother had been coming up with a list of names of people they may be able to enlist to form a resistance against SHARK from within. It wasn't going well.

'We can't take on that many with 37 people,' he said, 'well, 39 including the two of us, but still…'

'It'll do for now,' Sarah sighed sitting up, 'besides, this is going to take time, we can't do this overnight no matter how much we want it to,'

She got up from the table and started pacing back and forth over the wooden floor.

'We'll have to talk to these people, and if they join and we feel we can trust them, then we can ask them to volunteer names of other possible candidates. I think relying on each other's judgement is the only way we are going to increase our numbers… After recruiting them, the ones in higher levels can work on training the lower ones, that way we'll all be more prepared and know who we need to look out for and who we can rely on to lead units. I want at least 75 people before we launch an attack; how's that sound,'

She turned to Brandon who was eyeing her with a mixture of affection, surprise and respect and he nodded slowly

'Sounds good – but if we can get more that would be even better; It may delay our departure, but we can't afford to leave a single person unready for this,'

'Yeah you're right,' Sarah said as she resumed her pacing, 'I'll especially need to train all the girls up more – they're being held back because of their gender, and believe me, I know how bloody annoying that is. Most of them, if not all, will join our cause,'

'How you going to do that without someone getting suspicious?'

Thankfully Sarah had already thought this through,

'I'll talk to D.Z. I think I may have some leverage where he is concerned. I'll say… that… that I feel the girls need separate tuition to reach their full potential. If I make a big enough fuss over it, and use other – _ways_ – to persuade him, I'm sure he'll come round. Though it'll probably have to wait till I'm a 21st, but I should be able to do that tomorrow since I'll be starting from Rank 17,'

'Look Sarah,' Brandon said gently, also standing up and walking over to her, 'I know we've only really known each other for a few hours and I have very little right to say this but… don't do anything to compromise yourself that you'll regret. Don't let that slime-ball hurt you, or take advantage of you in any way, alright?'

Sarah found she couldn't meet his eyes.

'Brandon,' she said quietly in a sad voice, 'I've wanted my whole life to have a family and to be free. I'll do whatever it takes to make this work, even if I don't like it; after all, I'm not the only one who's suffered here, so-'

'You don't get it, do you Sarah?' Brandon cut across her, and she looked at him in surprise as he continued, 'you are incredibly intelligent, and D.Z should know by now that you wouldn't give yourself to him easily. You have to use your mind to win this one, and not your body, okay,'

Sarah felt herself redden and looked down at the floor, but nodded al the same,

'You shouldn't misunderstand me,' she said, 'I'm not the type of person to… _give myself away…_ but you've got to understand – this _has_ to work! If it doesn't, my life really won't mean anything anymore,'

Brandon conceded defeat; he knew exactly how she felt.

They cleared their notes up and Brandon agreed to hide them somewhere safe for the time-being as Sarah headed off to meet with D.Z, Brandon's words staying determinedly fixed in her mind.

She turned down the corridor to his office and gave a curt nod to the guard outside the door and knocked. Hearing him call for her to enter, she walked in to find D.Z already coming around the desk towards her.

She gave him a quick twitch of her lips and a nod as her greeting and braced herself as her drew near her. Thankfully he just gave her a kiss on the cheek that she supposed was meant to be affectionate but Sarah just found it repulsive.

'Well,' he said lightly and turning her around, 'seeing as I am a man of my word, I will take you to see your friends now,'

'Huh?' Sarah said dumbly, not daring to believe her ears; she was getting her own way for once…

He chuckled and walked her out of the door again, motioning for the guard to follow them.

'So,' he said conversationally and fell into step with her, ignoring the people who they passed who stood to attention and saluted, 'how was your first day?'

'Stupid arsehole pretending to care…' she thought angrily, but replied out loud in a pleasant enough voice

'Quite good actually,' she said lightly, 'I'll be resuming from Rank 17 in the morning,'

'Very good,' he said, actually sounding impressed, but Sarah didn't bother listening to the rest of his words – her mind was already too busy thinking to listen.

'Oh God,' she thought, panicking, 'I'm finally going to see them! This is unbelievable, I can hardly take it in… what will I say to them? Heck, what _can_ I say after all this time? Will they be glad to see me? Or will they be angry? Afraid, maybe… I dunno…'

By the time they reached the door of their room, Sarah swore her heart had stopped beating and without realising she was holding her breath.

The guard entered first. The room was filled with silence before he spoke,

'You've got visitors,' he said gruffly, 'Mr Zelner and another,'

He exited the room and D.Z gave him a nod before he stood and waited to the left of the door.

'Shall we?' D.Z said before leading the way into the room Sarah had to take several deep calming breaths before following him, but she really didn't think they had helped at all.

When she saw them, she felt as though she had just been punched by Sephiroth in the gut. The wind was knocked out of her and she had forgotten to breathe for so long that her lungs started burning, begging for oxygen. But all she could do was stare.

There they were.

They were in a light and spacious living area, and in about the middle of a room was a long cream sofa facing a coffee table and a large TV on the wall.

The oldest of the girls, Jennifer, was sitting on the right hand side of the sofa. Just left of her, in the middle of the sofa, were the twins, Connie and Tessie, who were sitting and sharing the same children's reading book. On the far end of the sofa, and helping the two girls with their reading was Alexis, only a few months older than Sarah, and second oldest out of the lot of them.

They all looked… fine.

They were dressed in good, albeit plain, clothing, and didn't look like they were at all malnourished, and none of them had any scars or bruises of any sorts.

The room was in complete deathly silence for well over a minute, with Sarah's eyes flitting between each of their faces, and all the other's eyes riveted on her in complete and utter shock. None of them had even noticed that the leader of SHARK had left the room.

Jennifer was the first to do something. The oldest girl there, 17 years old with light brown hair tied back in a short ponytail, and green-blue eyes, slowly raised herself to her feet. She was about 5 or 6 inches taller than Sarah, and slowly made her way over to the smaller girl, her eyes still wide and staring.

Sarah stared right back, equally as shocked, but found that as the older girl drew closer; she couldn't meet her gaze and shifted it to the floor, hot tears threatening to pour down her cheeks, and then

_WHACK!_

Jennifer had slapped her hard across the cheek. Sarah squeezed her eyed shut as the tears finally fell,

'I'm sorry,' she choked, eyes still shut and averted to the floor, 'I'm s-so so sorry,'

Then, just as suddenly, she found herself being squeezed to death by her embrace and sobbed into her shoulder, hugging her back, but not so tightly as to break her ribs.

'I'm sorry,' Sarah repeated, but Jennifer just shook her head, unable to say anything, but let out a small squeak as two small bodies collided with them and Connie and Tessie wrapped their arms around Sarah's waist.

This made Sarah sob even harder as she moved her arms to hug the two smaller girls. Finally they broke apart, and Sarah looked over to Alexis, who was also crying silently as she came over to them they embraced.

'You're…. alright?' Sarah managed to ask, tears still clogging her throat

'Yeah,' Alexis said, but Sarah knew that wasn't completely true. However she couldn't afford to question them on it yet. 'And is Annie…' she hesitated, looking around

'Annie's fine,' Jen said, wiping tears from her face, 'she's just asleep… We never thought, that you'd… you know…'

'I know,' Sarah sobbed, 'I'm sorry it took me so long. I tried so hard to find you; even went back to the base but you weren't there, or in any other base I tried. In the end I gave up, and came back- to well… this…'

Sarah quickly wiped her eyes and looked down at the twins who still looked like they couldn't believe their eyes. They both had auburn hair and bright blue eyes, and small freckled noses; they could have been Alexis' young siblings seeing as they looked a bit alike, although Alexis had strawberry blond hair.

'So how are you guys?' she said, crouching down so she was looking up at them

'It's really bright here,' Connie said, wiping her eyes

'N' they don't let us go outside,' Tessie added

'We're not allowed music 'cos we can't play,'

'We missed you,'

Sarah didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The twins had always been able to focus on the little things rather than the big picture, and that's how they kept going

'Well, how about this?' Sarah said gently, 'Sarah's gonna teach you to play, okay? Just as soon as I can get some instruments,'

This seemed to cheer the girls up immensely and they threw their arms around Sarah's neck and laughed happily, shouting 'YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!' as if they had only just realised.

Sarah laughed too. The relief of finding them alive and well was overwhelming. It was the same felling as when she'd got into SOLDIER, but multiplied a thousand times. All she could do was laugh and cry at the same time.

At last she pulled back and looked at them through joy and tear filled eyes, before ruffling their hair affectionately and standing up.

Just then the door opened and a four year old girl in pink pyjamas padded out, rubbing her eyes. She had beautiful golden blond hair which was in loose ringlets down her back, and stunning blue eyes with diamond shaped speckles of green in them, which stared at Sarah blankly for a full five seconds until she let out a happy scream of '_Saraaaaaahhh!'_ and ran forward to her.

Sarah scooped the tiny girl up in her arms and spun her round, laughing happily, before planting a kiss on the top of her head,

'Annie!' Sarah laughed, as the other four watched happily

'I knew yoo'd come back!' Annie laughed; her tiny arms still wrapped around her neck but stuck her tongue out playfully at the two oldest girls, 'see I told yooooo!'

Sarah had never been more elated – but something was still pressing on her mind; would the girls want to attempt another escape after what had happened the last time? And would they even want to leave…

The next morning, Sarah awoke with a huge smile plastered on her face. The six of them had stayed up talking well into the night and she had ended up just sleeping on their sofa with Annie, who had refused to go to bed, curled up next to her.

She glanced at the clock on the wall.

'Damn,' she thought, 'got to go to training…'

Carefully getting up she covered Annie with a blanket and slipped out of the quarters and headed down to the training hall, running into Fuchsia just coming from breakfast.

'Hey,' Sarah said, 'you got a minute?'

The girl nodded in reply and Sarah led them away from the crowds before turning towards the other girl and picking her words carefully

'Um… are you happy here?' Sarah asked just loud enough for her to hear and Fuchsia did a double-take,

'Huh?' she managed before catching herself, 'um, yeah why?'

Sarah just smiled a little. The poor girl may be a fairly good liar but Sarah could tell what she was really feeling

'Are you sure?' Sarah pressed her, quickly glancing over her shoulder to check for eavesdroppers

'Y-yeah,'

'Look,' Sarah said, lowering her voice again and leaning closer, 'if you're not, speak up because there may be something we can do about it,'

Fuchsia just looked confused for a moment, 'What do you mean?' she asked cautiously

'Well,' Sarah said slowly, 'I may have accidently-on-purpose started to draw up plans for a rebellion with my brother who I haven't seen in over fourteen years and didn't even know existed until yesterday,'

'Wha-,' she began, but an instructor came along just at that moment and ushered them along, but drew Sarah back before she could enter the gym; it was Rank 11 instructor

He carefully looked around him before smiling at Sarah and saying quietly

'Good work,' before hurrying off

It bugged Sarah a little that she didn't even know his name.

4 and a half hours and a few bruises later, Sarah headed to lunch having just made it past Rank 20, and was starting to feel the pressure – a lot.

She had decided to rest before taking on Rank 21. She would definitely have a lot to report to Shinra if she ever got the chance. Heck she _had_ to report to him before the rebellion because she needed their help.

But how was she going to do that? There was no way of getting to Midgar and back in the space of one night, providing she actually managed to get out of there in the first place.

Just like the previous day, Sarah sat down by herself at a table, again with a disgusting pile of goo in front of her, which supposedly met all their nutritional needs.

'Hey,' a voice said from above her, and looked up to see Fuchsia standing there, 'do you mind if I sit with you?'

Sarah motioned for her to sit down and she did so, and then cast an anxious glance around her

'I'm in,' she said defiantly

'You sure?' Sarah asked quietly, 'it won't be easy. You may die,'

Fuchsia shook her head, 'I don't care. I'd rather go down fighting for my freedom than fighting for SHARK,'

Sarah smiled sadly, 'Hopefully it won't come to that, but thank you anyway. We can't really discuss it now, but Brandon and I will be meeting later to discuss more, you should come along too,'

They sat in silence for a minute eating the disgusting excuse for food, before fuchsia spoke,

'So how many people have you got so far?'

'Hmm,' she said thoughtfully, 'it depends on if Brandon has spoken to anyone yet, if not then it's just the three of us'

'I see,' she said, seeming rather put out

'Don't worry, things will pick up in no time, we just need to be sure we can trust the people we ask,'

'How about my brother, Blade?' she suggested, 'he's doesn't really care about sides I don't think, he's just resigned to the fact that this is his life now. But if he knew I wanted to be part of this, I know he'd agree to it too,'

Sarah thought about this for a moment, considering the risks

'I'm going to leave this one up to you,' she said, 'if you think he's trustworthy then ask him; we need as many people as we can get,'

'How many are you hoping to have for it?'

'Well, I was hoping at least 75…' she said slowly but was cut off by Fuchsia laughing, 'What?'

'75!' she laughed, 'Sarah, there's got to be at least twice that amount who want to get out of here!'

'Really?'

'Yeah! I mean, how you were going to do this with only 75 people anyway…'

'Shinra,' she said quietly, 'I'm actually working for them…'

Fuchsia paled, 'What?' she breathed

'Is that going to be a problem?' she asked sadly

'Well… not everyone here likes Shinra either; they were the ones who started this war. I don't think people would be happy working for them,'

'_Working_ for them?' Sarah frowned, 'They wouldn't be _working_ for anyone. Sure you would all have to put up with taking orders from me for a bit while we organise and carry the operation out, but after that, you're all scot free,'

'Huh? So – you mean you're not looking for extra recruits for Shinra by doing this,'

'What I'm doing is getting my revenge on SHARK, and giving people who deserve it a chance at a normal life. I'm not asking anyone to work for Shinra; the president doesn't even know about what I'm doing here, but when he does, I can convince him to send people to help, and that way we can launch a two way attack on SHARK; form inside and out. They won't stand a chance,'

'Honestly…?'

'I swear on my life,' Sarah said grimly, 'you can all go free as long as you don't start any trouble with either side,'

_**That evening**_

'Well congratulations on making 21st so quickly Sarah,' D.Z said as he watched her from behind his desk, 'I've got to say I am impressed,'

'Thank you sir,' Sarah said, saluting the leader of SHARK

'I have a proposition for you,' he said, and Sarah cocked her head to the side slightly as he continued, 'I'm sending you on a mission. If you do a good enough job on it, you will officially become General of SHARK,'

Sarah almost chocked on the air she was breathing,

'_General!_' she spluttered and D.Z laughed slightly

'Yes,' he said still smiling, 'I was going to give the job to young Mr Tyler, but I thought with your knowledge of Shinra that you would do a better job,'

Sarah honestly didn't know what to say; General? After not even two days! Surely this had to be some sort of trick. 'Oh well, 'she thought, 'might as well fall for it…'

'Th-thank you sir,' she stammered and saluted again, 'I am honoured,'

'Well, I'm sure you would have liked to have time to let this sink in, but I'm afraid you leave for your mission tonight,' D.Z said and passed a file to her,

Sarah opened the file and thought her heart had stopped.

'Your mission is to kidnap President Shinra,'

* * *

**_Dun-dun-duuuhhhhh!_**

**_lol_**

**_Well, what ya think!_**

**_Please review... All I want is one measly review_**

_**Plllleaaaaaase!**_

**_UnchainedMelody94  
_**


	28. Chapter 28

**_I had actually planned this chapter to go differently, but when I started writing this all came out, so I hope it's okay... here we go...

* * *

_**

**Chapter 28**

She had to kidnap President Shinra…

'So,' Sarah said, putting the file down on the desk and folding her arms, 'you're asking me to get into Midgar, bypass Shinra security, head to the top floor of the Shinra building, which is the most heavily guarded and kidnap the president who isn't exactly slim enough to carry, and hopefully get out of there without getting killed,'

'Do you have a problem with that? D.Z smirked

'No,' Sarah said, actually managing to make herself smile, 'I was just checking,'

'Good,' he said, 'you will leave immediately with your team. Failure is not an option.'

Sarah had never wanted to put her head through a wall more than she did now. How the hell was she going to do this? Matters were made even worse when she was introduced to her 'team'.

Fuchsia and Brandon.

'I've had word that the three of you get on. Cooperation is most important on a mission like this; that is why you have been assigned to it.'

They were all going to die.

Sarah glanced at Fuchsia – her face was pale and she looked terrified.

'No offence sir,' Sarah said to D.Z, 'but I don't think that Fuchsia should be going on this mission; she is only a rank two and-'

'And this will be your chance to help her move up in the ranks,' D.Z cut across her.

'Great,' thought Sarah, 'not shagging the bastard is really coming back and biting me in the ass,'

* * *

'Have we any more information on the whereabouts of SOLDIER thirds class Sarah?' Lazard asked the people sitting in the lv 49 briefing room. The group comprised of Sephiroth, Angeal, Genesis and Zack from SOLDIER, and Tseng, Cissnei, Reno and Rude of the Turks.

'No,' Tseng replied smoothly, 'any attempts at tracing her have come to a dead end in Wutai where we found her phone,'

'There haven't been any reported sightings of her either,' Sephiroth added

'Hmmm,' Lazard said thoughtfully, 'any family that she might contact?'

Tseng nearly choked on his own words for a moment, before Reno took pity and answered for him,

'Her parents were killed over fourteen years ago,' He said and Lazard simply nodded

'And what about her brother?' he asked. Everyone looked at him as if he had just sprouted tentacles, 'What?'

'She never mentioned anything about having any siblings,' Angeal said promptly,

'Well,' the director consulted a file in front of him, 'recent study into her family indicates that her parents, Julian and Clarisse, had another child approximately six years before Sarah was born,'

Everyone looked up in interest as he brought up Sarah's file on the large monitor. Genesis held back a small laugh at the look of annoyance on Sarah's face at having her photograph taken.

Under the section that said family were three names. Two of them were her parents, with their birth and death dates next to them, and underneath was another name

'He was christened Brandon, and at the time of his parents' murder, he was in hospital for a brain haemorrhage, cause unknown. After his admittance to hospital there is no record of him anywhere, so I doubt she know of him, but we can't be sure,'

'We haven't heard anything about this before,' Tseng said honestly, 'it's definite that they are brother and sister?'

'DNA match confirms it,' Lazard sighed, 'well let's just hope this gets resolved quickly – she could be quite a powerful enemy,'

'She is only a third class SOLDIER,' Tseng said, and much to everyone's surprise, including his own, it was Sephiroth who spoke

'That 'only a third class' could quite easily be First,' he retorted without thinking. He mentally slapped himself, reminding him of the fact that she was supposedly the enemy,

'Exactly,' Angeal said quickly, trying to cover up his friend's embarrassment, 'after having faced her in training, it is obvious that she is incredibly powerful and could pose quite a threat,'

'Like I said when we met her,' Reno said, absent minded, 'I don't know how such a cutie could be so powerful,'

'Reno!' Tseng said warningly

'What? I'm just saying,' he looked up and faltered as his superior's expression, 'right, yeah – no –got it; shutting up,'

Zack's eyes flitted between the two of them for a moment as he frowned, before sidling over to Reno and whispering something to him,

'Yeah right,' Reno laughed ignoring Zack's anguished signals for him to shut up, 'if anyone hit that thing they would be hi-fiving people until their hands were bloody and raw!'

'_Reno!' _Tseng snapped and Zack scuttled away from the Turks

'Right, sorry boss!' Reno said quickly, they all distinctly hear him mutter to Rude, 'although you never know, Tseng doesn't do hi-fives, does he?'

Tseng pinched the bridge of his nose angrily, Reno having successfully reduced him to a ticking time bomb.

'Reno,' Tseng said in a low dangerous voice, 'that is enough,'

Tseng almost breathed a sigh of relief when there was no response and he thought they had reached the end of the subject when Lazard chose just the right thing to say – or not,

'Is this a matter which should be enquired about further?' he asked, clasping his hands and resting his elbows on the desk

'No, it isn't,' Tseng said evenly, 'Reno is just being his usual one track minded self,'

'Not cool yo!' Reno muttered and they heard Cissnei reply with 'its true thought Reno,'

'All more ahh- _complicated_ – relationships with the target should be looked at more closely, as I'm sure you know,' Lazard said

'I can assure you,' Tseng said, 'that there is nothing _complicated_ about my relationship with Sarah,'

Again Tseng thought this would be the end of it, and again he was mistaken; this time because of his own Turks.

Rude and Cissnei let out involuntary 'Hm's of laughter, while Reno came out with a sarcastic 'yeah, and I'm carrying Rude's child!'

A moments silence greeted this before Zack burst out laughing and Genesis, Angeal and Cissnei muffled their laughter with their hands. Rude just looked slightly alarmed and took and awkward step away from Reno who was blushing slightly.

'I see the word 'partner' has took on a new meaning for the two of you,' Lazard smirked

'Hey I didn't mean it like that guys,' Reno said weakly and Rude cleared his throat

'Yes well, back to the matter at hand,' Lazard said and focused on Reno, Rude and Cissnei, 'would you care to explain what your outbursts meant?'

Sephiroth glanced at Tseng who had closed his eyes and was attempting to calm himself. This was incredibly unusual behaviour for the Turk as he was usually so calm and collected. The General almost felt sorry for him. _Almost_. He wasn't about to forget the fact that it was this man who had taken Sarah from him.

He observed as the conversation continued, and decided it was time to help make Tseng's life a little less bearable as repayment for taking the only girl he had ever found worthy of his affections.

The conversation that followed was probably the most humiliating, terrifying and outrageously unjust conversation the nine people in that room had ever had the misfortune to face and they were damned lucky that Sarah wasn't there to hear it, and hopefully never would.

* * *

Sarah once again went over the mission plan with the other two as they flew towards Midgar in a 'silent' helicopter. It wasn't really silent but the sound was muffled quite a bit to make it a little stealthier.

The plan was that Sarah would jump down from the helicopter and sneak into the President's office via the side door.

It was the simplest plan Sarah could come up with – the other two would be out of danger – mostly – and it would be easier for just one person to get in unseen. Also, it would avoid the risk of being spotted running through the building.

Sarah sighed and looked out of the window at the shape of Midgar looming through the dark. She took a silver sphere out of her pocket and looked at it sadly.

'Why me?' she asked it silently, 'why did you want me to fight?'

* * *

President Shinra was still sitting at desk at 9:30 that evening, grumbling as he worked his way through the last few files on his desk. He swore he was going crazy. For a moment he thought he could hear helicopter blade beating in the distance, yet right above him, and then he though he heard someone landing on the roof.

If any other person had heard this, they would at least be suspicious, but he was too tired and lazy to be so – thank god.

Shinra didn't notice the slight figure dressed in black land neatly on the balcony surrounding the huge curved window, and therefore nearly had a heart attack when the door leading outside opened.

'What the-?' he gasped and reached for his intercom to alert security when his secretary buzzed through

'General Sephiroth to see you sir,' the woman said

'Send him in,' Shinra replied, still not taking his eyes off the figure standing in the shadows that had raised its hands to show that it was peaceful

'Please don't order him to kill me on sight sir,' Sarah said stepping forward into the light, her hands still raised

Shinra sighed, partly in relief, mostly in exasperation,

'Couldn't you think of a more appropriate way to contact me then putting the whole building on alert because of an unidentified aircraft heading towards the building?'

'Probably,' Sarah laughed, leaning against a pillar so she was hidden from the view of the office entrance, 'but I didn't want you to take your 'enemy' seriously enough to kill without identifying,'

'Ah, General,' Shinra said as he spotted Sephiroth coming up the stairs, 'could you please call off the alert; turns out we have an old friend visiting,'

Sarah chose this moment to peer round the column and gave Sephiroth a little smile and wave,

'Heya,' she said, and was happy to see him momentarily speechless, 'oh that's cute; you're actually shocked!' Sarah teased.

Sephiroth tried his best to ignore this and the elated feeling he got just by seeing her, and sent a message to building security,

'I thought you were meant to be in Wutai,' he said coldly and Sarah's smile faded slightly

'Yeah, about that,' Sarah said slightly, moving so that both the men could see her, 'I'm slightly screwed,'

'How so?' the president asked, raising an eyebrow,

Sarah looked at him nervously for a moment before replying with compete honesty

'I've been ordered to kidnap you,' she said, praying that Sephiroth wouldn't kill her straight away

There was silence for a moment as the two men took in her words

'I see,' Shinra said, 'well, we will address this issue in a moment, for now though; have you managed to get any useful information?'

'Plenty,' Sarah said and leaned against the pillar once more, folding her arms across her chest, 'where do you want me to start?'

'How many SHARK operative are there?' he asked straight away and Sarah let out a deep breath

'Well, it's not as simple as it is in SOLDIER but… including all SHARK members, trainees and normal military personnel, there are just short of 1200 people,'

Sarah wasn't surprised at their reactions; Shinra almost knocked a cup off his desk and even Sephiroth turned his head towards her disbelievingly,

'How many of them are members of SHARK?' Sephiroth asked

'It's about… 1130,' she said and their expressions didn't improve. Noting this Sarah added hurriedly, 'don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds,'

'Not as bad as it sounds!' Shinra nearly yelled, 'how can it not be as bad as it sounds!'

Sarah pinched the bridge of her nose and willed the throbbing in her head to stop; of course it didn't work, but still…

'If you'll allow me to explain the structure of their system you'll see,' she said, trying to calm the man down before he killed himself.

'Go on,' he said, taking a deep steadying breath

'Not all of the people have received the treatments yet,' she began but Shinra interrupted.

'How many have?' he asked and Sarah quickly worked it out under her breath

'Well there are five ranks… about 25 each so…' Sarah muttered and then said out loud, 'about 1000,'

Apparently this was the wrong thing to say. Shinra's face went red as he hissed

'1000! Only 1000! That is still _BAD!_' He seethed and Sarah hit a hand to her forehead

'Sir _please!_' she said loudly, 'you're not letting me finish!'

Shinra stared at her, looking as though he love to order Sephiroth to kill her nice and slowly, but he just nodded, his jaw set angrily,

'Everyone is sorted into Ranks depending on their fighting ability, much like SOLDIER, except there are 21 ranks, 1 being the lowest, and 21 the highest. Rank 5's are offered the treatment. If they accept they begin on Rank 6,'

'So there are 16 ranks who are actual SHARK operatives,' Sephiroth said in a level voice

'Exactly,' Sarah said

'May I ask which Rank you are?' Sephiroth smirked as if he already knew that answer

'21st, naturally,' Sarah smiled, 'made a record time from getting from the bottom to the top,'

'And how do the Ranks compare to your ability,' Shinra asked, having finally calmed himself slightly

'Umm… well, they started becoming a real challenge around Rank 19, but seeing as I'm only a newbie Third class SOLDIER I'd say that you guys shouldn't have much trouble with them,' she said happily, thinking that they would be pleased with this news, but frowned when they exchanged worried glances. 'What is it?' she asked, looking between the two of them

'The issue was only raised today because of an _incident_ earlier, but…' Shinra said, but Sarah cut across him

'What happened?' she frowned standing up straight,

The President looked as though he was going to tell her, but a glance at Sephiroth shut him up.

'Never mind,' he said a bit too quickly, 'the point is, the issue was raised about your fighting capabilities. It appears people who haven't trained with you underestimate your ability, and rightly so,'

Sephiroth and Shinra exchanged another glance and the General started speaking, and Sarah looked at him,

'Your fighting ability could easily rival an exceptional 2nd class SOLDIER and perhaps even a First class,' he said, but Sarah just laughed

'Yeah right,' she said, 'when I was training with you guys I could barely keep up!'

'You handled yourself a lot better than you think you did,' Sephiroth said forcefully and Sarah blushed a little, 'You were training with much more experienced fighters,'

Sarah fidgeted uncomfortably, 'Well, that's just… '

'Tseng of the Turk here to see you sir,' the secretary buzzed through causing Sarah and Shinra to jump.

Sarah just hit her fist off her head in annoyance before nodding to Shinra and hiding behind the pillar again. A few moments later and Sarah heard the Turk enter the room.

'Director Lazard wanted extra confirmation that the situation is under control,' came his smooth voice, and Sarah's stomach tingled.

'Yes, everything is fine,' Shinra said, 'there was just a slight misunderstanding,'

However, Tseng noticed that the tone of his voice was slightly off and glanced around.

'Damn large windows,' Sarah thought as his eyes latched onto her faint reflection. She sighed quietly as Shinra gave her a reluctant nod, and she stepped around the pillar once more to find a startled gaze meet her own.

'E-erm.. hey,' she said and gave a weird sort of wave at him before leaning against the pillar once more,

'Oh please, come join the party,' Shinra said sarcastically and told his secretary to not to let anyone else up.

'Sir?' Tseng asked cautiously,

'Care to give a brief summary?' Shinra asked Sarah, his annoyance evident, 'now that he's has seen you he might as well stay,'

'Okay,' she said before turning her head towards the confused Turk, 'I need to work on my hiding skills, there are about 1000 people in SHARK, and these two are worried I may be good enough to be a First class SOLDIER,' she said before adding brightly, 'which I'm quite happy about by the way!'

'Very well,' Shinra said; the migraine he was getting pretty obvious to the lot of them, 'do you have anything else to report?'

'Yup; still plenty of headaches to come!' she joked, but received a warning glare from the man.

'Such as…?'

'I've been offered position as General of SHARK, the girls are fine; thank god, D.Z is a pervert who tried to shag me, and I know his real name by the way, I've found out that I have a brother, and I'm not sure how you're going to feel about this one, but I started to draw up plans for a rebellion with said brother,'

As she had expected this speech was met with total silence.

'Let's go through that one in order, shall we,' the president said eventually

'Righto,' she said, 'well, I think this mission is to test my loyalty to SHARK; by bringing back you I completely acknowledge you as my enemy. D.Z said if I complete this mission I will be given Rank as General instead of Tyler.'

'I see,' Shinra said slowly, 'and that Tyler boy is still around?'

'Unfortunately,' Sarah sighed, 'he's also Rank 21,'

'Okay, next'

'The girls are fine. I've checked in with them and they don't appear to be hurt and haven't said anything that would suggest it, but I don't believe it for a moment,' Sarah said

The President nodded and motioned her to continue

'Right, what was next… oh yeah. The whole D.Z being a pervert thing kind of speaks for itself, but it was most like another way to test my loyalty.'

'And did he manage to… do anything?' Shinra asked awkwardly

'No,' Sarah said, not noticing how the two men behind her relaxed slightly, 'aside from making me spew up so much that I swear a little of my stomach lining came out because he kissed me,'

'O – kay. Next. You said something about his real name?'

'Uh- huh,' Sarah said, secretly wandering how Shinra would react and if D.Z's story was true, 'His real name is Demetrio Zelner, and from what he says he is the adoptive father of Daniel Zelner,'

Shinra leant back in his chair and stared thoughtfully at his overly large desk, 'Demetrio Zelner…' he muttered

'Um, he said… that you knew his father…?' Sarah asked timidly,

'Hmph,' Shinra said, coming back to his senses, 'and I suppose he told you the a bid sob story to get you to sympathise with him, too,'

'Well, yeah. And it almost worked too, before I realised that he was going to try and stick his tongue down my throat,'

Behind her Sephiroth and Tseng both made funny little choking noises and Sarah looked at them as if they were mad

'I'm sorry,' she said sarcastically, 'If the two of you feel you are too young for this sort of conversation, feel free to turn around, block your ears and hum very loudly until it is over,'

All this did was earn her two very dark looks from the two men, before she turned back to the President.

'Alright,' she said, 'moving on. I have a brother, his name is Brandon,'

'Yes, we know,' Shinra said, 'it's in your file,'

He looked as though he was ready to move on but Sarah stopped him

'Hold on!' Sarah snapped, 'you knew I had a brother and no-one told me?'

Unexpectedly, it was Tseng who answered, 'After you left, an investigation was conducted into the matter of your family, and old records show that your parents had one child before you. We never knew before then,'

Sarah looked at him for a while, trying to decide if he was telling the truth, and decided he was so she turned away again.

'Lastly, what is this you said about a rebellion?' Shinra asked with narrowed eyes

'When I reached Rank 12, the instructors decided to just make me help with training the others for the rest of the day, so they put me with a guy who was having confidence issues. I just tried talking to him and he burst out with how much he hated it there and we got to talking properly. He said he thought I looked like his little sister did; I had the same eyes. Anyway, he told me there were a lot of other people who felt the same as he did, so I decided I could use it to our advantage,'

'You decided to trust someone you just met?' Sephiroth asked disbelievingly and Sarah scowled angrily at him

'Yeah, because I know how he felt! It's damn near impossible to fake that level of emotion, believe me,' she snapped

'How many have you got so far in this 'rebellion' of yours?' Shinra asked before any more arguments ensued

'Um well, only three,' Sarah said ashamedly, 'I didn't expect to be sent on a mission so soon; we haven't had a chance to talk to anyone else,'

'How many did you think would join?' Tseng asked

'W-well, between the three of us we figure there may be around 150 people willing to join,' Sarah said quietly, and three sets of eyebrows raised, 'I know that's not a lot, especially considering they would mostly be lower levels, but I was hoping that you would give us some help and we could launch a two-way attack on SHARK; they wouldn't stand a chance,'

'That would be risky if there weren't many strong people there,' Tseng said, 'the would be a lot of losses,'

'I know,' Sarah said sadly, looking down at the floor, 'but like one of the others said, we'd rather go down fighting for something we believe in then fighting for the wrong side. I'd make sure anyone else who joined knew the risks… and I'm sure all of them would accept it. Like I said; I know how they feel,'

Tseng bowed his head slightly, and Shinra actually looked at her with something akin to pride,

'If you agree with this,' Sarah said, addressing the President, 'I do have a request,'

'Go on,' Shinra said

'I want the girls to get out before the fighting starts; this all means nothing to me if they are not safe. I want them to have a chance at a proper life, but… they may need help. If I die then…-'

'I can assure you Shinra will see to their well-being,' Shinra said in a surprisingly soft tone

'Thank you sir,' Sarah said, a lump rising in her throat

'You're willing to throw down your life for them,' Sephiroth said, looking at her thoughtfully, and Sarah sighed

'You have no idea what it's like to care for people that much, do you?' Sarah asked sadly, feeling almost… disappointed?

Tseng looked between them, a strange mixture of sadness and anger filling him at their little moment. Did Sarah have feeling for him…?

But,' Sarah said turning once again to Shinra, 'this isn't going to work if they don't trust me enough to leave me alone,'

'Then you have only on choice don't you,' Shinra said and Sarah got a sudden ominous feeling, 'you're going to kidnap me,'

* * *

_**Viola! More will be revealed in the coming chapters! I still haven't decided how long this fic is going to be...**_

_**But anyway, hope you enjoyed! Please review... Just one? pretty please?**_

_**UnchainedMelody94  
**_


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

'Hell no,' Sarah said clearly to her superior, 'there is no way I'm going to hand you over to SHARK – they'll torture you just for the fun of it and maybe have the mercy to kill you when you're already inches away from death; I'm not letting that happen,'

'I wasn't offering you a choice; this is an order. You will hand me over to them and start this rebellion,' President Shinra said, standing up from behind his desk

'I refuse,' Sarah said determinedly

'I've just said I'm not offering you a choice,' he shot back at her.

'This is madness!' Sarah exclaimed, 'you're no good to anybody if you're dead,'

'The company will always have Rufus if the worst should happen,' he said, trying to sound calm, but the nervousness in his voice was evident.

'That's not the point,' Sarah said forcefully taking a step forward, 'plus, you're saying that it would be alright if Rufus lost his father, not just his boss,'

She turned desperately to Sephiroth and Tseng

'Would you please back me up here!' She snapped at them

'She's right,' Tseng said evenly, 'this is too dangerous,'

'I have made my decision,' the President said firmly, and they knew it was the end of the discussion,

Sarah glanced back at the other two men again, but they weren't going to say anything else.

'Alright,' Sarah sighed heavily, 'you win. But I'm going to make sure you escape after a couple of days max.'

'That will not be necessary,' he said smoothly, as his phone buzzed in his pocket

'_Not __necessary?' _Sarah began, but Shinra held up his hand as he answered his phone. He listened to it silently for a moment and then snapped it shut.

'I have one last thing to attend to then we shall be on our way,' he said briskly, and he began to walk towards the office entrance and called back to Sephiroth and Tseng, 'the two of you are dismissed,'

Sarah watched after him in disbelief, and then glanced towards the other two, 'has he always been this crazy?'

They both smiled a little but neither of them said anything. Sarah slumped against the pillar once again and exhaled. It seemed that the other two had completely forgotten the order to leave or were just ignoring it completely. Little did Sarah know that it was because they each wanted to talk to her on her own and were waiting for the other to leave.

'Sooo….' She said after a few moments silence, 'Was everyone pissed when I took off?'

'You could say that,' Sephiroth smirked, while Tseng just smiled slightly, 'I think Genesis took it the worst; he's stopped quoting from LOVELESS,'

Sarah laughed heartily, and missed how Tseng's expression softened slightly as he looked at her

'I never thought I'd say this, but I actually miss his LOVELESS obsession,' Sarah said, which made Sephiroth smile. Sarah's stomach lurched a little at this and she blushed slightly, praying that neither of them noticed. She cleared her throat quickly.

'So, how's Zack, after, you know, I tried to kill him with a fire ball?' she asked sheepishly.

'Shocked, more than anything else. He doesn't want to give up on you,' he smiled.

'Well as long as he doesn't try and repay the favour if I run into him; I don't think I'd make very nice toast,' she whined pathetically. Both Tseng and Sephiroth laughed.

Sarah's swore her heart skipped a thousand beats within a second. Her breath was cut short and she suddenly found she was trembling.

'What?' she thought and she looked at the floor, 'What am I feeling? I don't… I _can't_ like…'

She looked over at them and received a familiar lurch in her stomach when she saw they were both still smiling.

'No way!' she thought desperately, 'I can't like _both _of them! That's just… it's- _no! _Just no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!'

Sarah's dilemma must have shown on her face as Tseng asked her what was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to answer and the silence fell around them. Wait – silence?

It shouldn't be silent. Yet it was – all around them; absolute silence…

'Sarah?' Tseng asked, stepping forward and peering at her anxiously.

She turned her face towards them, her expression a mixture of worry and confusion.

'Umm, do you guys hear a helicopter?' She asked frowning.

The other two also frowned and listened for a moment.

'No,' they replied at the same time, both of them slightly worried for her sanity

'Yeah,' Sarah said quietly and nodded, 'neither do I…'

Without sparing any thought for their concern she pulled out her new phone and dialled Fuchsia's number. She let it ring for ages before giving up and calling Brandon, but again there was no response.

'Something's wrong,' she said, clicking her phone shut, her brow furrowed,

'What is it?' Tseng asked

'They aren't answering their phones,' Sarah said, before elaborating after seeing their confusion, 'the two people who I brought with me; I told them to stay on alert in case I needed them or they needed to contact me,'

The two men exchanged glances, forgetting for a moment that they secretly hated each other, but Sarah was oblivious to this; she was too busy thinking.

'Who exactly did you bring with you?' Sephiroth questioned evenly, snapping her out of her own thoughts.

'Oh- um, Brandon and Fuchsia,' she said, 'they're the two other nutters apart from me who…' she trailed off, her eyes widening and mind going fuzzy as a sudden realisation dawned on her.

How could she have been so stupid? They knew. They had to.

'This is a trap…' she muttered, mentally cursing herself for her stupidity, 'they're probably already dead,'

'What are you saying?' Tseng asked, now not sure as to whether she thought Shinra or SHARK were the enemy.

Sarah turned her head towards them, looking as though she might cry or throw up.

'I always knew that this mission was a test,' she said quietly, 'I just didn't realise _how_ I was being tested,'

She stood up straight and started pacing as she talked

'If he wanted it doing, he wouldn't have sent me…' she said out loud, 'he just wants to know whose side I'm really on,'

'Who does?' Tseng asked

'D.Z of course,' she said, 'if he really wanted the President capturing, he would have sent Tyler or another 21st. He must have suspected that I was going undercover for Shinra – actually no surprises there, so he must me monitoring me somehow or-…'

She came to an abrupt halt in her pacing and faced Sephiroth and Tseng.

'The two of you need to leave,' she said, and received frowns from both of them, 'look, I'm not supposed to know that I've been set up. When he comes back in here, he's going to confront me, but I may be able to talk my way out of it. If the two of you are here, he may just resort to a direct confrontation and if Fuchsia and Brandon have been captured, I don't want them being used as human shields,'

'Are you saying the President has been compromised?' Sephiroth asked, drawing himself up and surveying her coldly

'No, not compromised – kidnapped,' she snapped back at him.

'The President is always under guard from Shinra's best for the Turks and SOLDIER, not to mention the rest of the building security,' Tseng said, his face expressionless.

Well Wutai had always been right about one thing – Shinra were full of themselves.

'And what about when he goes home?' she asked heatedly, 'sure his home has state of the art security and people patrolling, but it doesn't make it impossible to get to him,'

'You make it sound as though you have thought about it a lot,' Tseng observed, then immediately regretted it when Sarah looked like she was about to hit him.

'Gee, thanks or the vote of confidence Tseng,' she said sarcastically, 'it's so good to know people have faith in me,'

'In case you hadn't noticed while talking to him, but the President is in this building,' Sephiroth said, sounding impatient.

'Okay, what the hell is up with you guys?' she snapped, 'you're supposed to be intelligent,'

Now it was their turn to feel like hitting Sarah – she sometimes forgot who had the authority - but she continued before they could say or do anything.

'I'm sure I've told you this before, but Wutai, or maybe just SHARK, have ways of impersonating people almost perfectly, look,' she said and brought out a black bangle with gold patterns on it out of her pocket, 'SHARK have been trying to perfect these for years, and they have managed it only recently.'

She held it out for them to see.

'All I would have to do to impersonate on of you is get a small sample of your DNA and put it in here. As long as you were living I could use it to take your form at will and you wouldn't notice.'

'And this is your evidence for saying the President has been kidnapped?' Tseng asked sceptically and Sarah rolled her eyes in frustration

'There's more,' she said angrily, 'there is also a machine that can connect to these bangles, which scans the brainwaves of the person inside allowing the user of one of these to impersonate their behaviour, but it's not perfect,'

'That is still hardly enough evidence,' Sephiroth said.

'Have you not noticed the President acting strangely lately?' she asked, looking both of them in the eye, desperate for them to understand, 'Rufus said it himself that something was off with him a couple of days before I left for Wutai, and I'm sure if you asked his wife she would say the same thing,'

'The President is under a lot of stress-,' Tseng said but Sarah cut him off.

'Stress doesn't make you forget your wife's name or where your front door is!'

'He may have sustained an injury,' Tseng replied calmly but Sarah still had an answer.

'Then he would have requested a doctor, but he didn't,' she said, getting more aggravated but the second, 'and besides I already know that there's someone else from SHARK here using one of these bangles!'

'And you didn't feel the need to report this?' Sephiroth asked, a hint of accusation in his voice.

'I haven't had the fricking chance! Besides, that doesn't matter right now; what does matter is the fact that this is a trap, for me, and the two of you are still here!'

Sephiroth was about to respond to her statement but didn't get a chance because the President chose that moment to re-enter, looking very grave.

'Ah,' he said as he spotted Tseng and Sephiroth, 'the two of you are still here; good, that will save some time,'

'Sir?' Tseng asked, turning towards him.

'Arrest her,' he said.

'_What!' _Sarah said without thinking

'Her two comrades were found trying to gain access to valuable information, and were also in possession of an explosive which could have torn apart half the building,' he said

'Brandon and Fuchsia?' Sarah asked disbelievingly, but Shinra ignored her.

'Arrest her,' he repeated to the two men, 'and put her in a holding cell until a decision has been reached,'

'Until a decision has been reached? What does that mean?' Sarah asked heatedly, fully aware of Sephiroth and Tseng on full alert in case she tried anything.

'It has already been ascertained that your true intent tonight was to steal information, with you providing the distraction while your comrades infiltrated our data room,' Shinra said calmly, 'we already have them in custody,'

'This is all a load of crap!' Sarah exclaimed, taking an angry step forward only to find the tip of Sephiroth's sword at her throat.

'The mission to Wutai was a test Sarah,' the president told her, 'a test to see who you were really loyal to, and it seems we have found our answer,'

He turned to Tseng and Sephiroth.

'Take her away, and make sure she is heavily guarded; I do not want her to escape.'

Sarah looked at the two men pleadingly, but they both regarded her with the same emotionless expression. That's when she gave up. She sighed and raised her hands, allowing Tseng to come forward and remove her weapon.

She kept her eyes dead ahead, refusing to look at either of them. Honestly, she felt betrayed; she would have trusted either of them with less evidence than she had provided. The least they could do was look into the matter.

Next Tseng took the items out of the pocket in her coat; the bangle which she had put back in there, her phone, and also the silver sphere. She almost made the mistake of trying to get it back, but managed to stop herself at the last moment – she couldn't let the President get his hands on it if it was actually someone impersonating him; Wutai didn't know she had taken it.

However, she wasn't that lucky. Tseng put all the items on the President's desk and Shinra walked over to examine the sphere.

'And what would this be exactly?' he asked, holding it up for everyone to see

'Keepsake,' Sarah said shortly

'Really?' Shinra asked lightly, 'Would it not really be a weapon that was stolen from Shinra over a decade ago whilst still under development,'

Tseng and Sephiroth's eyes flitted between Sarah and the sphere for a moment, each thinking the same thing – a weapon? It looked like a materia… and it had been under development in Shinra? Why did Sarah have it and turn it over to them on arrival? Was she really working for Wutai?

'I have no idea,' Sarah lied, 'but it was my parents', so now it's rightfully mine,'

'It was property of this company,' Shinra retorted loudly, and then turned to the others, 'Take her,'

She didn't put up a fight as they escorted her out of his office and towards the elevator, nor did she say anything; she was furious at the two men for not listening to her, even after Sephiroth swore never to lose faith in her. Now, here she was, being arrested by them – well at least life at Shinra was never dull.

The elevator doors slid shut and began to move down. Sarah stood just in front of the other two, her mind racing to figure how she could get out of this, or at least find out what was going on.

'Was that sphere a materia?' Tseng asked, already knowing the answer, so it didn't matter when Sarah didn't answer, 'What does it do?'

For a moment, she considered not saying anything, but answered all the same, 'You wouldn't believe me,' she said bitterly.

'Why not?' he asked

'Because you haven't believed me this far,' she hissed, and remained silent until they reached the holding cells.

They took her to the one furthest on the right and Sarah stepped inside, turning to them before they closed the door.

'You don't trust me at all do you?' she asked. Neither of them answered as the door slid shut.

She suddenly felt weak and tired, and sank down onto the bench in the room. What had she gotten herself into? Had it really been worth it; escaping from Wutai in the first place. This was just too much.

Sarah put her head in her hands and thought about the silver sphere.

She hadn't been lying when she said no-one would believe her about it. That single piece of materia was probably one of the strongest in the world, apart from the fabled Black materia hidden in the Temple of the Ancients, wherever that was, of if it even existed.

The silver materia could do practically anything you wanted. Well, not _anything. _If you knew how to use it properly you could move so fast you would become a streak of light, become so strong you could raise an entire city with a single blow…

But the truth was, the materia had been an accident; one that should never have happened and should never be repeated.

While studying the Ancients, Shinra scientists, mainly her parents, had managed to mix Ancient's DNA with make, and solidified it to form a piece of Materia. They had a theory that by using that materia, you could use the Ancients powers. But of course that didn't happen – they had just managed to create a new sort of weapon, hence the reason the weapons development department had taken credit and responsibility for it.

This materia had also been the reason Sarah's parents were captured and killed, and also the reason that her brother had ended up in hospital during that time.

Brandon had somehow got hold of the materia and attempted to use it. The result was he lost control and hurt himself badly. Two things came of this incident – the realisation that a special gene that manifested itself in human DNA was required for someone to be able to use it, and also her parents keeping it on them at all times to ensure no more accidents.

Sarah also had this gene in her, except, the difference was that the gene wasn't dormant. Scientists predicted that there may me a total of 200 people in the world with the active gene, and figured it would be cheaper and quicker to just use Sarah for the experiments.

To put it simply, even if Sarah hadn't been raised by Wutai, she still would have been made to fight. Her life would have been nearly the same, but maybe she would have run to Wutai to get away from Shinra, and sought revenge on her parents and the rest of the company.

But that wasn't important right now. She had to get out of here; if anyone knew about the materia and the gene that was needed to use it, they would conduct experiments on her to find a way to give other people that gene, and also find a way to replicate the materia. And if it really was someone from Wutai impersonating the president, that information would go straight to SHARK, and they could gain an upper hand over Shinra.

Yet, did that even matter anymore? It seemed that neither of the sides trusted her enough to let her help them, not that she would help Wutai, but there was still the matter of all the people who didn't want to be there…

Sarah sighed once more and lay down.

'Security will be tight,' she thought, 'If I'm going to escape it will have to be done tomorrow. Might as well get some rest.'

It wasn't until the next afternoon that anyone came for her, and to her horror it was Genesis and Angeal who came to escort her to the President's office.

The looks on their faces was almost unbearable; they couldn't believe that she had been captured and was being accused of treason when they had spent the last couple of days convincing themselves that she was really working for Shinra.

She couldn't look them in the eye. When the door opened to reveal them she quickly averted her gaze and made no sign of recognition towards them. They couldn't say anything either because there were other people around.

They took her to the top floor and she could feel their gazes burning the back of her head, unsaid question piercing the air so much that it hurt.

'A decision has been reached,' the President said once they had arrived.

Genesis and Angeal were standing a couple of meters behind her, and even Sephiroth was present, also standing away from her.

'Your sentence; execution,'

She half expected, or more like wanted the others to show some sort of reaction to this; anything. But they didn't. They weren't going to do anything to stop this. They didn't trust her. They probably didn't even care about her.

In truth, she had almost forgotten that they were all trained killers. They all did this sort of thing every day, and her life wouldn't mean anything on top of all the others they had taken.

Had just been kidding herself, thinking that Sephiroth had feeling for her, or rather hoping of late that he did. Had she been kidding herself as to how close she thought she was with the people she had called friends?

Right now, all she was sure of was that one of the last things she would ever see was the fat bastard's look of triumph as she was led away. She couldn't escape. Not from these three.

She was going to be taken to a gas chamber, to enjoy a nice slow painful death.

Sarah's mind was numb. She was going to die. This was the end.

Sephiroth walked ahead of her, Angeal and Genesis behind. Their group attracted a lot of attention as they walked; apparently everyone now knew that Sarah had betrayed Shinra and was to be executed.

But Sarah barely noticed. She didn't notice Angeal sending and receiving messages, and she didn't notice that they were going the wrong way.

Sephiroth led them to an empty part of a mid-level floor and stopped a couple of feet away from two infantrymen.

Sarah looked up at them – it couldn't be…

'Hey Sarah,' the one on the right said, followed by the one on the left.

'Ross? Cloud?' she asked disbelievingly, and gaped as they removed their helmets and revealed themselves.

'Here,' Ross said, passing an infantry uniform to her, 'put that on,'

'Huh?' Sarah said dumbly as she caught it, 'why?'

'You're leaving,' Angeal said from behind her. She whipped round and met his gaze for the first time that day.

'What?'

'You were right,' Sephiroth said, causing her to whip round again, 'everything you said yesterday was true.'

'Besides,' Genesis continued for him, 'we're not about to let you get executed,'

Sarah suddenly felt ashamed for all the things she had thought about them.

'Umm, thanks' she said quietly, 'but won't you all get in a load of shit because of this?'

'Not if he sees your dead body,' Genesis said cheerfully, and Sarah became worried again, 'don't worry though; we've got a plan for that,'

'Errr, does that plan involve killing me?' Sarah asked timidly

'Yes,' Sephiroth said, causing Sarah to crick her neck as she turned to look at him in genuine horror, but Sephiroth shook his head slightly, 'I'm joking,' he said dryly

Sarah swallowed hard, 'I don't like it when you joke,' she croaked which made him smile a little.

'Hurry up and change,' Angeal said, 'the Turks will be here in a moment with your things and then you'll have to leave,'

'Right,' Sarah said and pulled the clothing on over what she was already wearing, 'well at least it makes me look a little less puny, if not taller,'

She finished dressing then turned to Sephiroth,

'So what are you going to do about my dead body?' she asked, but it was cloud who answered

'We're taking a leaf out of Wutai's book,' he said, holding up a bangle, 'we took this from the guy impersonating Kenny,'

'But… you'll need someone to use it on,' she said

'Don't worry,' came Reno's voice from down the hall behind her, and she turned to look at him, 'we've got someone who deserves to be gassed with us,'

And sure enough, Daniel Zelner was being escorted down the hall along with Tseng, Reno, Cissnei and Rude.

'Zelner,' she said, surprised, 'how did he get in here?'

'Tried to sneak back in but we caught him,' Reno said.

'Here's your things,' Cissnei said, holding her sword and yet another new phone out to her

'Thanks,' she said awkwardly, and equipped her sword and put her phone in her pocket.

'We couldn't get the materia,' Tseng said, but Sarah shook her head.

'I wouldn't expect you to be able to, but if you ever do get your hands on it; destroy it. It's too powerful,' she said just as Angeal's phone rang.

Tseng nodded.

'You need to get moving,' Angeal said, hanging up his phone, 'security are coming this way. Zack's trying to head them off,'

Sarah nodded.

'Remember,' Sephiroth said, 'once you're out of here, stay out of trouble; that means staying away from Wutai and Shinra until this is over,'

'But-' she began but Sephiroth cut across her,

'No buts! You're in enough trouble as it is. Just leave it to us,' he said

'Come on,' Cloud said, 'we'll walk you out,'

'Oh, before you go, we wanted you to have this,' Genesis said, handing her a neatly wrapped parcel.

Sarah took it and immediately knew what was inside.

'Hmmm,' she smiled in mock thoughtfulness, 'what could this be? A book perhaps? Let me guess – Loveless?'

'The decision was unanimous,' Genesis said happily

'Meaning no-one else got a vote,' Angeal mumbled, but Sarah grinned.

'You didn't have to,' she said, 'but thanks,'

She stepped forward and hugged him,

'No-one can live without it,' he smiled. Then she turned to the others and hugged them in turn,

'Take care,' Angeal said

'Stay safe,' said Cissnei

'We'll see you again soon, hopefully,' Tseng said

'See ya Shorty,' Reno grinned and ruffled her hair

'Good luck,' Rude said

The she turned to Sephiroth and hugged him too. He made a slight startled noise when she did but still awkwardly hugged her back

'Thank you,' she said softly to him

'I did promise,' he said with a sad smile. As they pulled away their eyes met. If they had been alone Sephiroth would have kissed her, but he settled for a small smile instead.

'Well,' she said, turning to the group at large, 'See you,'

With that she put on her helmet and walked away with Cloud and Ross, giving one final wave to the group she had left behind.

* * *

_**As usual reviews are apreciated - just ONE review pleeeeaaaasssee!**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_

_**xx  
**_


	30. Chapter 30

**_Well, firstly I really must apologise for the disgustingly long wait you have all had for an update. I have been going crazy over how I wanted to proceed with this story and I even considered ditching the last couple of chapters and re-doing them completelly, taking on a whole new story line. While it may have been better to do that, I decided not to for reasons unknown... lol._**

**_Anyway, I hope this chapter will sort of make up for the wait._**

**_Enjoy!_**

_**By the way, in this chapter I am really focusing (or trying to) on Sarah's emotions, particularly her anger, hate and frustration that has been builing up intil it had to be expelled.**_

* * *

Stay out of the way of Shinra and Wutai? Yeah right! As if she was ever really going to do that. They had risked their skins for her so many times already, and now it was time that she repaid the favour. If she had been completely right about the President having been kidnapped, and an imposter having taken his place, the first thing she needed to do was get back to Wutai, on the double. She had told the imposter all about the plans for a rebellion in Wutai, and even though she had only got around to telling Fuchsia and Brandon, they had been captured by Shinra, on the bullshit charges that they were trying to steal information and destroy half the building.

Hopefully Sephiroth and the others could do something about the two of them, but her first priority was getting to Wutai and actually starting a rebellion. She had been right; there was no way Shinra could take on the full might of Wutai and SHARK combined, not when Shinra had been so deeply infiltrated.

It was very clever on SHARK's part, really, when she came to think about it. Shinra had been on the verge of World domination, with only Wutai left to surrender to their might. It would seem like fitting justice for Shinra to have to surrender to Wutai when total domination had been only inches away.

Suddenly it was all clear to Sarah; she knew exactly what she was going to do. Firstly she would head straight back to SHARK headquarters and try and convince D.Z that she was really working for them and that President Shinra's imposter had delivered a false report (if one had been delivered) because of personal issues, or something like that. She would say that she had given false information to President Shinra, in the hopes that they would really believe that a rebellion was going to take place, and that they would attack SHARK as Sarah had directed, and fall neatly into her trap.

After that Sarah would hopefully be alive and allowed to continue in SHARK. If so, she could start spreading the word about the rebellion and start recruiting. She just prayed to god that Fuchsia and Brandon had been right about others not wanting to be part of SHARK enough that they would help her. She wouldn't need many people, she decided, just a handful of the upper levels to do the upfront combat. The lower skilled people could help with tactical diversions against the enemy, and also she would need people guarding her friends if they hadn't managed to escape by the time the rebellion took place. Sarah knew that so much could go wrong with this plan; D.Z could know she was lying, or they could be caught whilst planning how best to instigate the pincer attack against SHARK devotees.

It will work, Sarah thought determinedly as she headed towards sector 6 above the plate, which was currently being used as a temporary air base until urban planning had finished blueprints for the final part of the floating city; I will have to make it work.

Sarah looked up as she neared the airfield. Just as she had predicted, a bunch of wet-behind the ears infantrymen were standing around, waiting for the transport that would take them straight to the front lines in Wutai.

She cleared her throat slightly, took a deep breath and walked over to a guy standing apart from the rest, at the back of the group. He was perfect; small, weedy looking, and by the look of things, didn't often talk much – it would be easy to take his place.

''Hey,'' she said as she approached him, making sure her helmet was on securely and making her voice sound lower, ''Come over here a second.''

''Huh,'' he said. His voice was a bit nasally and croaky. He sounded like a really nerdy scientist with a cold.

Sarah shook her head and then jerked it to show she wanted him to follow. She quickly led him round the corner of a building, and glanced around to see that there was no-one nearby or watching.

''What's your name,'' she said

''Roy Tucker,'' he said shortly, ''Why?''

''This is gonna sound really crazy,'' Sarah said quickly, lowering her voice ever so slightly so that the boy had to move a little closer ''but could I take your place on this transport?''

'''What!'' he said in surprise, but Sarah couldn't help but hear the hopefulness in his weedy voice, ''Why?''

Sarah cast around quickly for an idea, and then decided to settle on a partial truth.

''All my mates are out in Wutai fighting and I don't want to be the only one left behind here. Besides, I'm on leave for the next couple of weeks, so all you have to do is not show your face for a while and I'll be back before then,'' Sarah said hurriedly, hearing the helicopter approaching.

''Uuhhhhh…'' Tucker said unsurely, but Sarah cut across him

''Listen kid, either yes or no, but you've got to decide right now!''

''Fine,'' he said

''Ohhh thank you,'' she said excitedly, and clapped him on the shoulder ''I'm going to need your ID card,''

He threw Sarah what she knew to be a reproachful glance from under his visor, but did as he was told. He handed it to her then opened his mouth, most likely to ask for her card in return, but she didn't give him a chance and sped off towards the transport which was landing now, feeling slightly guilt about the fact that he was probaly going to be found out when she didn't return and everyone thought he was dead or something.

So far so good, Sarah thought as she showed her newly acquired ID to the SOLDIER 3rd who was checking off names, but that was the easy part. '_I know people have done stuff like that before. It actually happens a surprising amount; all you have to do is ask someone who could easily be working with Hojo within the next couple of years and you're in.'_

Sarah hopped into the transport and took the last remaining seat as the door slammed shut and the helicopter took off.

There's no going back now…

* * *

It was about 6:30 the next morning when D.Z found himself sitting behind his desk, mission plans abandoned in front of him, staring in disbelief at the willing prisoner the sentries to the entrance of their hideout had apprehended.

Sarah stood there, looking at him expectantly as the two burly soldiers were dismissed. He continue to stare at her for a moment, but when he finally opened his mouth to say something, she cut him off rudely,

''You're a stupid sly little bastard, you know that, right?'' Sarah said, annoyance plastered all over her face, ''I had a brilliant plan, but then your stupid friend turned out to be an imposter, and now the master plan of the century has gone awry,''

It took D.Z a full ten seconds to process what she had just said before he was able to attempt speaking again. Sarah wondered whether he was going to call the guards back in to kill her.

''Master plan?'' He scoffed, his voice full of disdain, ''you mean the one where you're still tight up with Shinra while you plan a rebellion within my ranks?''

''No,'' she said as if talking to a 5 year old, and marvelling at how calm she sounded, ''the one where I lure Shinra into a trap and then strike them down when they think they've got a chance.''

''Do you really expect me to believe that? Do you really think I am that naïve?'' he said, laying down his pen to emphasise how serious he was in his speech.

''I don't think you're naïve,'' Sarah replied evenly, ''I just think you're a big dumbass idiot! I had them right where I wanted them; believing that I was still on their side and ready to help them, then suddenly Fuchsia and Brandon have been taken and I'm being arrested!''

''My informant tells me otherwise,'' D.Z said strongly, ''he says that you were working for Shinra all along, and now you're only here to help bring us down.''

''Of course he's going to say that!'' Sarah snapped angrily, taking an impassioned step toward his desk, ''because that's what I was trying to make Shinra believe! Do you have any idea how much effort I put into gaining their trust?''

D.Z opened his mouth to argue back, but Sarah cut across him, her words flowing out of her when they weren't even fully formed in her mind.

''Do you honestly think I care about anyone in that hovel? Because I don't! I just came up with the idea for the rebellion to try and lure them into a false sense of security, and if you hadn't noticed, it worked, because they let me escape!''

''_Let you escape_?'' D.Z scoffed, ''and how exactly did that come about?''

''Let's just say that helps to have a couple of Shinra's finest fall for you,'' Sarah lied silkily, desperately hoping it sounded like she was using the men of Shinra, whilst, in reality, regretting what a stain it made on her character, ''they were quite eager to let me go so I could '_stay out of the war_'.''

''Ah, so the true character finally emerges,'' he goaded her lightly, his eyes narrowing malevolently as he leaned back in his seat, ''and the whore inside steps forth. You weren't satisfied with your Shinra playthings, so you came back here. Is that why you returned, Sarah, so you could be my little bitch instead?''

CRACK!

Sarah had picked up an expensive crystal ashtray off the coffee table and flung it at the man sitting behind the desk. It hit his left temple with a sickening noise and sent D.Z toppling to the ground along with his high backed, black leather chair. The crystal ornament ricocheted away and hit the wall, breaking into a hundred pieces as it did so.

Sarah stalked slowly towards the large desk, the anger that boiled up from the pit of her stomach blinded her, and radiated throughout the room. She reached it and leaned forward, splaying both hands firmly on the mahogany surface, glaring daggers at the man struggling to his feet.

''_I. Am. Nobody's. Bitch._'' She snarled, taking immense pleasure at the sight of the horrendous gash on his forehead, and the blood that splattered down the side of his face, trickling half way along his jawline before dribbling down his neck, over his racing pulse, before staining the white shirt and grey blazer he was wearing.

Yet she took even more pleasure at the obvious look of terror in his grey eyes, which he was trying so hard to hide. He could do nothing but stare at her, as she glared back defiantly. Legs failing him, he stumble backwards and leant against the stone wall, eyes still never leaving hers as he raised his hand and gingerly touched the quickly swelling wound. D.Z winced as his fingertips brushed the desecrated skin, drawing them away only to find the sporting droplets of his own crimson fluid.

Meanwhile, Sarah's anger had far from abided. Her fingers were digging into the wood beneath her palms, fingernails leaving scratches on the surface. She so desperately wanted to throw something else, but she knew she mustn't. But _Gaia_ was she furious. Her jaw was clenched, her breath was laboured and it made her nostrils flare dangerously, and she was shaking like mad, and not the least bit out of fear, for as soon as D.Z had uttered that insult, all she saw was red. Blood. Murder. She wanted to rip him, destroy him, break his bones, and tear his still beating heart from his chest. She wanted to go beyond killing him. She wanted to show him perpetual ruin and agony. She wanted the last thing he saw at night, and the first thing he saw in the morning, and all the times in-between to be her and death joined as one, united in giving him his own eternal hell to suffer in.

But she couldn't. Not if this was going to work. She just _couldn't_.

Sarah bowed her head, and drew in a deep breath through her nose, every inch still trebling violently with rage and adrenaline. Then, with a primal cry of rage she raise her fist and brought it crashing down through the desk, cleaving it in two and sending large splinters in every direction.

Again D.Z cowered and tried to mask his mind numbing fear with wariness at her present condition. But she knew, oh yes she knew… she could feel his fear. It was the same fear she used to feel in Tyler's presence, months before she had discovered her true potential, in those god-awful lightless months before she had escaped.

Sarah angrily twisted away, noticing with satisfaction that her hand was smarting from the blow, and began to pace in front of what could now be classed as spare firewood, fists clenching and unclenching at her side. Her footsteps almost muffled D.Z's deep shaking breaths with which he was trying to calm himself for over a minute as he didn't dare to speak and she was too enraged to try.

''Do you know what?'' Sarah finally hissed, her voiced laced with venom as she continued her pacing but turned towards the older man, ''I actually thought- I actually _believed_, just for a moment, that it was going to be alright. I was back with my girls again. That's all I wanted. That's all I cared about. But of course it was never going to be as simple as that was it? I mean after all it is _me_ we're talking about, and for me nothing is _ever_ simple.''

D.Z's eyes followed her, noticing as they did that he was becoming light headed, but he forced the feeling off – it wouldn't do to collapse in front of the girl now.

''I was prepared to overlook the fact that the girls had been beaten, starved and abused (and I know that they have been); because I thought you'd leave us alone once I came back. But now, you've tried to have me killed, and as far as I know, my brother is dead, and so is another one of my friends.''

''Why these seem like incredibly trivial matters to me,'' D.Z sneered as his feet slipped slightly and he slid an inch or two down the wall, blood continuing to stream down his now very pale face, but Sarah hardly registered this as he continued, ''so why should you have a problem with letting them go.''

This was the wrong thing to say. Or perhaps the right thing, depending on the reaction you wanted to see compared to the one that followed.

Sarah flew at him, daggers in her eyes. She leapt straight over the crippled desk, grabbed the lapels of his coat so that he staggered forward half a step as she yelled at him, and shoved him roughly against the wall once more, a fresh wave of blood pouring out of his wound.

''You ignorant BASTARD!'' She all but screamed at him, his face only half a foot from her own, ''You've got no idea, do you? You-''

But she never finished her sentence as D.Z chose that exact moment to pass out. His legs finally gave way and his vision blackened. He fell limp, the only thing keeping him from hitting the floor being Sarah's hands which were still furiously gripping his grey (and now red) blazer. At this unintentional display of weakness she let out a very loud angry growl and dragged him over to the nearest sofa. She stood back and glared at his form sprawled there, leaking blood onto the couch where it pooled, and entertained herself momentarily with the thought of just leaving him there to bleed to death, as he was so close to doing already.

Grudgingly, she let her conscience get the better of her and stalked over to the ruined desk which had spilled its contents everywhere. Just as she had expected, the leader of SHARK had kept a small stash of medicinal potions and first aid items in it. She gathered them together and placed them on the coffee table before dropping down to her knees next to the now invalid.

Sarah was very methodical in how she went about this. Firstly she straightened out his body so he was lying straight like on a bed, and put a cushion under his head. Next she took a cloth and cleaned the blood off his face as best as she could, and then dabbed the injury with an antiseptic wipe. She then used a few potions – just enough to stem the bleeding, not enough to heal the wound fully; she still wanted it to hurt like hell. Finally she wrapped bandages around his head, rather like a ninja's bandanna.

She leaned back for a while to examine her handiwork. He still looked pale and clammy, but that would last as long as he was suffering from lack of blood. There wasn't anything else she could do for him right now, or at least, anything she _wanted _to do, so she pocketed a few of the potions, but piled the rest of the remaining equipment near the desk, keeping a phoenix down in her hand as a last minute decision.

She really should wake him up now; there was still a chance that he could die from low blood levels, and if he did, Sarah doubted that SHARK would take so kindly to having her around, and she knew she would have to stay. Unfortunately, killing this one man wouldn't bring an end to SHARK. Another person who shared his ideals could easily take his place, and it would most likely be Tyler, or someone equally as vulgar.

Sarah looked at the phoenix down she was holding and took a deep steadying breath. Her anger was ebbing away, only to be replaced with a cool sense of power. The gold-red light flared and then settled over D.Z as she used it, then waited for a few moments before he began to stir.

''Guuggghh,'' he groaned, moving his hand to his head and trying to sit up. Sarah pushed him back down none too kindly and he opened his eyes to watch her blearily.

''You've really grown,'' he croaked grudgingly, ''I have to say I'm impressed, but you need to work on your temper.''

''Hn,'' Sarah gave a humourless laugh and sat herself down on the floor, back leaning against the sofa, and faced away from him. He continued to peer at her through bleary eyes for a full minute as his head throbbed.

''So,'' he said eventually, and switched his gaze to the dark ceiling, ''you're angry then.''

Sarah didn't say or do anything, so he continued, changing tack.

''Well, congratulations, _General_,'' he grinned, delighting in the fact he got a reaction from her, even if it was just a slight turn of her head, ''that is, of course, if you still want the position. If you would rather leave, I won't stop you.''

Again Sarah made no move but gave a non-committal 'Hn', and continued to stare at the coffee table.

''Of course you could take those girls with you; I see no reason to keep babysitting them if you're not hanging around,'' he said lightly as her returned his gaze to her, but really his mind was working furiously; he needed her to stay on their side – he couldn't risk her divulging the location of their HQ to Shinra, either willingly or through torture.

To this, Sarah did react. She turned to look him fully in the eye, suspiciously.

''Why would you do that?'' She asked him, ''after all this shit, why would you suddenly let go?''

He once again looked away and shrugged. Sarah's eyes narrowed and he raised his hand to his bandaged wound yet again.

''I guess I don't want another one of these,'' he joked, ''and also, if you aren't going to be on my side, I would also rather you weren't in the war.''

This much was true, and both Sarah and D.Z knew it. Sarah's heart pounded in her chest and her mind worked furiously. She could leave. The six of them could go free. She knew for certain that if she had been offered this before she had met Brandon she would have accepted, without hesitation. But now…

Now she had to consider the many other people who wanted to go free. She had to become a leader for her kind. If she decided to run-

''No.'' Sarah said out loud, shocking even herself, and D.Z jerked his head toward her, ''I'll fight Shinra. But if you do even the slightest thing to piss me off, I'm going to kill you, and if you run, I'll just hunt you down and make you pay. Even if you don't, after the war I'm still going to make you suffer for every little crime you've committed against me and my family, understood?''

The man's grey eyes lingered on her face, and after deciding she was serious, they once again went to the ceiling.

''Perfectly,'' he said in a calm a voice as he could muster.

''Good,' she said, and then stood up and headed towards the door, turning back once she reached as another thought struck her, ''Oh, and one more thing; if you get in my way whilst I'm here, you'll regret it. Dearly. You're going to let me have free reign, and I'm going to be choosing my own squadron and training the girls separately for a while. I'll show you how tough I am when I take down every last member of SOLDIER.''

With that she opened the door and walked out of the room, and passed a rather apprehensive looking guard standing outside.

Meanwhile, inside the room, D.Z chuckled to himself.

''Excellent,'' he thought, ''this is all going even better than I had planned.''

* * *

_**Yep, she really means business now doesn't she?**_

_**I know I went over the top with the whol anger issues, but it was fun to write, and I wanted to make it clear that D.Z os nothing more than a perverted bastard out for his own gain. He never has and never will be emotionally attracted to Sarah.**_

_**Thanks for reading,**_

_**UnchainedMelody94.**_

_**(Oh and please review? I only want 1! plz plz plz plz plz plz plz! xox :) xox)  
**_


	31. Chapter 31

_**Thank you so much to the people who reviewed, and as a present her is your next chapter lol.**_

_**Please don't hate me if it's rubbish... :(  
**_

**Chapter 31**

Sarah only just made it back to her room before collapsing on her bed as the gravity of what she had just done hit her. She was going to get in _so_ much trouble for this. Breaking back into SHARK had been one thing, but almost killing their leader…

''Well, at least D.Z may have been right about one thing,'' Sarah thought bitterly, face buried into her pillow, ''I really do need to work on my temper.''

He may not have been so angry tonight, but she would bet a million Gil that when he was healed, the leader of SHARK would be most unpleasant. She could foresee having to deal with a lot of problematic people who would surely test her resolve (meaning people she would want to beat up, badly).

Just _how_ had she gotten here?

* * *

''I'm sorry sir, but I don't quite understand what you're saying,'' said the fat blond man, sitting behind the large desk of President Shinra, talking to a man on Speakerphone, ''I saw Subject '_Alpha B_' get executed. I was watching while it happened.''

''Then how do you explain her presence here at Headquarters, Zoutun?'' D.Z's voice replied from the small machine.

''She's at HQ!'' the man exclaimed, actually jumping out of the chair so his fat rippled unpleasantly, ''but I made sure that it was the best of the SOLDIERs who took her to the gas chamber! _Gaia,_ you can't trust these Shinra dogs to do _anything_ right, can you?''

''According to Sarah,'' D.Z said (the man impersonating Shinra frowned at the use of her name), ''those fools let her escape.''

''Really?'' the fat man questioned slowly as he sat back down, then suddenly smirked, ''I wonder how they'll react to her presence in Wutai? They seemed to believe that whoever died was the real girl.''

''Apparently,'' D.Z continued as if never interrupted, ''they believe she is on their side, and wanted her out of the war to 'protect her'.''

''So they'd disobey a direct order from their President to help one stupid little girl,'' Shinra's impersonator mused out loud, ''I'd never have expected them to be so soft.''

There was no sound for a few seconds but the faint static from the speaker, before D.Z spoke again.

''Do you think they suspect you as an imposter?'' he asked, and Shinra's double could almost see the man frowning by the tone of his voice.

''I don't think so,'' Zoutun replied, leaning back into his chair and resting his hands on his rotund belly, ''at least, Sarah seemed pretty certain that she was speaking to Shinra, and I can't see any reason why they would suspect me.''

''Sarah _did_ realise you were an imposter,'' D.Z said heavily, ''though she didn't say whether or not she told anyone, and I was too – _preoccupied_ – to ask.''

''Hmm,'' the imposter said thoughtfully, running a chubby hand through the blond locks on his head, ''well they did arrest her on my orders… but then again, if they let her escape…''

Again, static filled silence filled the cavernous office as Zoutun looked thoughtfully out of the window, not really seeing anything that was there. He hadn't expected so many complications with such a simple assignment. Sure, he a messed up slightly when he had first assumed President Shinra's identity, but everyone had just passed it off as stress over the Wutai war.

The real President Shinra was hidden somewhere in Wutai, under heavy lock and key. It had been such a synch kidnapping him. They had simply taken him as he had tried to enter his own home, where he didn't take the guard he kept at Shinra HQ. It _had_ been a heck of a challenge fitting him in the boot of a car, and they'd been immensely surprised at the fact he hadn't managed to suffocate himself with his own flab.

Oh, the secrets he had unfolded when he had first sat behind this desk. Zoutun's mouth still watered at the prospect of all the information yet to be looked over. But that could wait for now, until they had officially won at any rate.

''You mentioned,'' D.Z said suddenly, snapping Zoutun out of his thoughts, ''a man named Tseng before.''

''Yes, leader of the Turks,'' the imposter replied, ''I sent you his file.''

''I have only just got round to looking at it now,'' D.Z said slowly, ''but you were right; it does interest me… greatly.''

''I recognised him at once,'' Zoutun said, swelling with pride at the well concealed compliment, ''he was there when we captured and interrogated the Fallers. He also has a close relationship with the girl.''

Even though it had been about 14 years ago, the few people who had been there, remembered that day very clearly. For some reason, the leader of SHARK had been most pleased with the news of their capture. However, after the interrogation, nobody was confused. The two adults had been Shinra scientist, working on a top secret Materia project – Project F, and it just so happened that their child was to become the main test subject of that experiment.

The Silver Materia (named purely for its colour) could make you strong. SOLDIER strong. It had been Shinra's intent to train the girl up, as they had done Sephiroth before her, to become part of SOLDIER. They'd had the idea that the use of the Silver Materia, on top of the SOLDIER training and treatments, would make a whole new level of human weaponry, with powers rivalling that of Sephiroth himself, and maybe one day even surpassing them.

Of course, that had all went balls up when the Faller family had been taken. Even the boy, Brandon, had been captured a few weeks later, just to complete the set.

''Send Tseng to Wutai,'' D.Z said suddenly.

''What? Why?'' Zoutun questioned, clearly confused by this order. He could nearly hear the smirk that D.Z gave before he answered.

''I'm going give Sarah a little more incentive to work with us.''

Zoutun was sure Sarah knew about the Shinra's plans as she'd had the Materia, so what else could possibly give her more incentive.

''Oh and one more thing,'' D.Z said before Zoutun had a chance to speak, ''I want you to tell those supposed friends of Sarah's that she is now General of SHARK, and may soon be General of all Wutai's forces under Lord Godo.''

''Huh!'' the fat man exclaimed, ''When did this happen?''

D.Z sighed with impatience, and Zoutun shut up immediately. The last thing he wanted was to may his boss angry; his nose had been misshapen quite badly the last time.

''I have given the position of SHARK's General to Sarah not an hour ago, and I am going to meet with Lord Godo in three days' time.'' D.Z said briskly, ''as you well know, Godo isn't so keen on the idea of SHARK, but Sarah has a certain way with gaining people's trust. I believe she will allow him to unite all of Wutai's forces as one – it is simply a scare tactic. We don't really need his permission, or his army, but it will make us seem more imposing.''

''But she's just a kid! Even Sephiroth wasn't made General until recently and he's about 23. She's only 15!''

''I wasn't asking for your opinion!'' D.Z snapped, making Zoutun feel immensely relieved that he was two continents away from him, ''besides, wasn't the greatest General in all known history only 13 when he won a great war?''

Zoutun closed his eyes and shook his head silently. ''That was hundreds of years ago. Times have changed,'' he tried to reason, ''are you sure you're not going too far just to try and keep her happy? Don't you think you're placing too much trust in her?''

''Are you questioning my judgement?'' D.Z asked in a low rumbling voice.

Zoutun stammered helplessly, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Yes; he was questioning his judgement, but he wasn't about to _say_ that.

''N-no,'' he said quickly, casting around for something to say, ''but, er… do you think people will respect her enough to obey her orders?''

''She rose from Rank 1 to 21 within two days; she already has their respect,'' D.Z said flatly, ''and also, many people know that it was because of her initial escape from Alpha base that spurred the move into this new facility, to be trained properly; I'd say they already hero-worship her, or so Tyler grudgingly reports.''

Here Zoutun had to bite back his laughter. He had met Tyler, and while he was a great fighter, he had never liked the guy so much. A very small part of him was actually glad that he wasn't General of SHARK.

''Very well,'' he said at last, ''I'll send the Turk on a mission tomorrow, is that good enough?''

''Yes,'' was the simple reply, before the machine was cut off.

* * *

The next day, Sarah woke up with a smashing headache. She had been thinking long into the night about how she was going to get through this. It would have helped if she'd known even the first thing about leading troops, but she didn't. How on _Gaia_ was she meant to command over 1000 people, by herself? She wished she could ask Sephiroth on the matter, but she couldn't. She was all alone here, and had to pretend she knew what she was doing, so people didn't take advantage of her, unless…

* * *

''Tyler!'' Sarah barked, as she entered the massive training facility. The walls hadn't been brought down yet, and the cavern was so vast that she couldn't clearly see to the other side of it; the light's only fully came on when training was about to commence, which wouldn't be for another hour.

Tyler was there by himself, practising sword moves diligently. She had to hand it to him really; he was incredibly devoted to his training, and also very focused when he was. He turned to the entrance upon hearing his name, but after he saw who it was, a sour look spread across his face.

''What do you want?' he spat, clearly angry at the fact she had been made General and not him.

''Now, now,'' she said silkily, relishing in the fact that _she_ had the authority over _him_, ''you're going to have to be a bit more careful with your manners from now on.''

''Shut the fuck up,'' he growled angrily, advancing forward and baring down up on her, ''we both know full well that I'd make a better General then you ever will!''

''I doubt it,'' Sarah scoffed, thinking back to her conversation with D.Z just a few minutes previously, ''you're too hot headed and full of yourself – it's a bad combination.''

* * *

''_Why didn't you make Tyler General instead of me?' Sarah asked, laying down her knife and fork._

_She had been invited to have breakfast with the leader of SHARK in one of his private chambers, and hadn't the nerve to refuse. Besides, the temptation of real food instead of the crap they served in the refectory was too strong to resist._

_D.Z looked at her steadily for a minute, bandages still wrapped around his head, with a few locks of hair falling down gracefully over them. He took a measured sip of his morning tea before answering carefully._

''_I was going to make Tyler General,'' he said slowly, and Sarah nodded as she already knew this, ''because he was the best fighter at the time, before you showed up again.''_

_Sarah frowned at him. That seriously couldn't be the only reason, and how would he know if she was a better fighter than Tyler; she hadn't fought with him in months._

''_Tyler and I haven't fought since I got back here,'' she said, voicing her thoughts and watching his reaction closely, ''so how would you know if I was better than him or not?''_

_D.Z sighed and wiped him mouth on a napkin. To her surprise he got up from the table and walked over to a small painting which was about the size of an ordinary piece of paper, pulled it away from the wall like a door, and input a code into the panel behind it. Unknown to him, Sarah memorised this code for future reference._

_Out of the small safe he retrieved a little box, a little bigger than one which would hold an engagement ring, and Sarah's stomach twisted unpleasantly. He wasn't going to… was he?_

''_I was going to wait until after we'd finished eating,'' he said, closing the safe and readjusting the painting, ''but I might as well say it now.''_

_Sarah watched him carefully, trying her best not to show any emotion on her face, as he made his way back to the table and sat back down. '_Well,'_ Sarah thought_, 'at least he isn't down on one knee.'

_D.Z looked at her, and then shifted awkwardly in his seat. It seemed to Sarah as if he was steeling himself to say something she may not want to hear, and if Sarah was right about the topic, then she DEFINITELY didn't want to hear it._

''_I'm sure by now,'' D.Z began slowly, ''that you know the reason you, and your parents were, ahhh- located, by SHARK?''_

_Sarah sighed and looked away angrily. It hadn't been the topic she was expecting, but it was still something she didn't want to discuss. However, D.Z continued to look at her steadily, clearly expecting a reply; or a fist._

''_Yes,'' she said eventually, her irritation evident in her voice, ''because of some weapon plans.''_

''_Not just any weapon-'' he began, relived that her initial response hadn't been a punch, but Sarah cut him off angrily._

''_Yeah, it was a piece of materia, wasn't it?'' she snapped. It literally took all of her self-restraint not to pummel the git to the ground. She really wished that silver sphere hadn't been taken off of her._

''_Do you know what the materia does?'' he asked quietly. Sarah didn't answer. She sort of knew what it did, but hadn't had the courage to try it out in the brief time it had been in her possession. Also, she wasn't meant to know about it in the first place – she had just come across it while looking over he own file. _

_D.Z took her silence to mean 'no' and began to explain all about 'Project F', and what Shinra's intent had been for her. Most of what he told her she had already known, but some of it surprised her greatly._

''_You mean,'' Sarah said in a slightly croaky voice once he'd finished, ''I was meant to be raised to be stronger than _Sephiroth?_''_

''_From what I gathered, that was their intent, yes,'' he said, talking much more easily now he knew she wasn't going to attack him again, ''But with SHARK-''_

''_I've been raised to kill him,'' Sarah finished quietly. There was silence between them for a few moments, but then before she knew it, Sarah was laughing hard._

_She didn't know why she was laughing; none of this was funny in any way. Well, it kind of was._

_If only she could see Sephiroth's expression if and when he found out. She could just picture him doing his trademark smirk and slight jerk of the head that he reserved for Genesis' taunts, which he coupled with a short 'Hn' of laughter. Sarah wondered if he would challenge her, to see if she could truly beat him, and what if she could...?_

_Sarah finally stopped laughing hard enough to look D.Z in the eye._

''_You're kidding, right?'' she gasped, laughter still etched into her face, ''I mean, nobody can beat Sephiroth. Nobody.''_

_D.Z watched her steadily for a moment, no clear expression on his face. For him, these next few moments, and the contents of this little black box, would help to solidify her loyalty in SHARK._

''_Well,'' he said quietly, gaining Sarah's full attention as the smile faded from her lips, ''there is only one way to test that theory, isn't there?''_

_He carefully picked up the small box which he had taken from the safe, and looked at it for a moment, an almost fond expression on his face. Sarah tensed ever so slightly, praying beyond hope that there wasn't a diamond ring in that box, simply because it seemed like the type of deranged thing D.Z would do to test her loyalty.__ She had shown D.Z last night that she wasn't to be messed with, and if it so happened there _was_ a ring in the box, she would follow through with her threat of making him suffer for messing with her._

''_Sarah,'' he said, looking up from the black velvet box and straight into her eyes.__Underneath the table, Sarah's hand clenched in her lap, ''one of the reason's I chose _you_ as General instead of Tyler is because he is too hot headed and full of himself. Another reason is in this box, should you choose to accept.''_

'Oh Lord…' Sarah thought as her stomach squirmed unpleasantly, 'I think I may vomit. On him.'

''_But before you face your opponent, I want you to have this,'' he said, opening the box slowly, so that she could see the shiny object inside. Sarah's eyes reluctantly fell to it, and her jaw followed suit._

* * *

Tyler looked as if he was going to spit in her face or something, and honestly, Sarah couldn't blame him. He had been practically assured of the position for ages until Sarah had reappeared. If it had been her, Sarah would have been just as angry with him. But wait - she couldn't go and start sympathising with the guy; he was her enemy - just an enemy who she had to use to get through this.

''No,'' Tyler said angrily, taking a step towards her, ''you, and being back in Wutai, are a bad combination.''

Sarah sighed and shook her head; he may have been strong, but comebacks were _definitely_ not his forte.

''Look Tyler,'' Sarah sighed and decided to take the diplomatic route, for now at least, ''I'm General now, and that's that. I _was_ going to ask you to be my second in command, but seeing as you have such a problem with me, I'm not sure it's a good idea after all.''

Just the reaction she had been hoping for.

Tyler had frozen very still and was staring at her with his eyes narrowed. It was clear that he was suspicious, but that was what Sarah had been aiming to make him. The best option that was clear to her was to get Tyler to shoulder some of the responsibility of training the troops in real-life combat, so as to give her more time to do the things she had to do, like found and lead her own little army of rebels.

''You were…'' Tyler began, at a loss for words whilst clouded with suspicion, ''Why?''

Thankfully, Sarah had already thought her answer through carefully, but she tried to make it seem as if this was a spur of the moment decision and started pacing steadily.

''Well,'' Sarah bean slowly, ''it's obvious that you don't trust me – and I guess that's fair enough considering all that I've done – so I thought you'd feel better if you were my Lieutenant.''

Tyler cocked his head to one side as he considered this, but Sarah noticed that his body was relaxing slightly. However, she needed to push this further if she was ever going to gain his trust enough to leave her alone.

If Sarah had never offered this proposal, Tyler would have been constantly shadowing her, watching and waiting until she finally slipped up and he could expose her. Hopefully now though, she could preoccupy him enough for him to let her get on with her business.

''Ultimately, you'd still have to take orders from me,'' she continued, ''but everyone here realises how strong you are, so they'd listen to you, and if they saw that I had your backing, they'd perhaps listen to me too.''

Somehow it felt exhilarating to be lying straight to his face, and to be daring enough to almost pull him far enough into her façade that he could see through to the other side. All it would take was the tiniest mistake, and it would be all over. It was lucky that she didn't have any other problems at the present time – her brain may have exploded if she had.

''And also,'' Sarah furthered, stretching her lies some more and adding a hint of truth, ''the decision wasn't made because I'm a better fighter than you, and I'm not saying that I am, but because of Sephiroth.''

''The General of the Shinra Army?'' Tyler scoffed, clearly he didn't think much of the man he had met only once, ''what's he got to do with anything?''

Sarah shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant, ''He's General and I'm General; it just makes sense seeing as I'm the one who has to kill him.''

The man in front of her stared, clearly thinking she was joking, but when he saw she wasn't he laughed unpleasantly.

''You _have_ to kill him, do you,'' he sneered, jealousy once again rearing its ugly head, ''It _has_ to be you does it? So what's the reasoning behind this then? Go on, tell me.''

Sarah shook her head, and Tyler's Green-brown eyes flashed dangerously. She didn't flinch or back off, but simply said,

''I'll show you.''

* * *

**_Well there we go, another chapter gone. I don't now how many more chapters I'm going to be doing altogether, but I'm also going to be re-doing some of the earlier chapter to make them better. As always reviews are much appreciated, and will DEFINITELY make me update faster!_**

**_Just one itsy bisty review... please? :)_**

**_Thanks for reading,_**

**_UnchainedMelody94_**

**_xx  
_**


	32. Chapter 32

**_And chapter 32. Bit of a boring chapter, but hey, at least it's an update. I'm trying very hard to better my writing style and I am still planning on re-doing my earlier chapters to improve them. Can't promise anything good seeing as my best is still a load of crod! Happy reading!_**

* * *

**Chapter 32**

''_WHAT!_'' Genesis yelped at the blond haired director of SOLDIER, '_'what do you mean 'she is General of SHARK'!''_

At 9.00 am that morning, the three 1st class SOLDIER's had been called into the briefing room for an emergency meeting. They had just assumed that someone had found out it was not Sarah's body that they had put in the gas chamber, but this actually threw them slightly.

''I mean exactly what I said,'' Lazard said smoothly, ''the body recovered from the gas chambers was the body of SOLDIER 3rd class Daniel Zelner, and SOLDIER 3rd class Sarah is currently serving as General of SHARK in Wutai.''

The three SOLDIER's exchanged glances. Hadn't they specifically told Sarah to stay _away_ from Wutai? Why couldn't she just listen to them for once in her life…?

''What we would like to know is,'' Lazard said and gained the other's attention once more, ''how Sarah was able to make Daniel impersonate her so well, when he is in fact not aligned with Wutai as Sarah would have had us believe.''

This statement met nothing but stunned silence. Director Lazard laughed humourlessly.

''I judge by your expressions that you were not aware of this latest development,'' he said.

''You could say that,'' Angeal sighed wile wondering, along with the other two, how many more lies they were going to have to sit through before they finally got the truth.

''Well basically, Zelner was partaking in an undercover operation on direct request of the President. Being the son of D.Z was a big factor in the decision to use him.''

''I see,'' Angeal said slowly, ''but if he really was working for Wutai, why would Sarah have used him considering he holds such importance to the leader of SHARK?''

Director Lazard leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table.

''We believe,'' he sighed, ''that Sarah wanted to usurp his position and move her way up the ranks to the number one spot,''

''Which she has done,'' Angeal finished for him.

The dark haired man glanced along at his two friends. Genesis looked mutinous, and Sephiroth's expression was unreadable. Angeal secretly wondered whether Sarah was so trust worthy after all, and knew at least Genesis was thinking the same.

True, this wasn't much evidence to go on, and Sarah had a deep emotional involvement with the war, but the evidence just seemed to be mounting up against her. He knew for a fact that Sephiroth trusted her, but his silver haired friend wasn't impartial on the matter. Genesis was hardly any more unbiased being so close to the girl himself, but Angeal could see this from the outside perspective, and it looked _bad_.

First the defect, then breaking back into HQ, escaping by someone else who was supposedly on her side dying for her, and now instated as General of SHARK… What next? He wondered.

''Anyhow,'' Lazard continued, ''the new order is to kill her on sight.''

* * *

Sarah nodded at Tyler and walked further into the cavernous training hall, drawing her katana and getting into a defensive position, and indicating that the dirty-blond haired man should take the offensive.

''You're going to show me why you were made General by fighting me?'' He scoffed, but all the same he did as she directed. It was more out of curiosity than obedience.

Tyler positioned himself ten feet away, his sword (a one similar to the standard issue SOLDIER broadsword) lying ready in his right hand as he took the offensive.

Sarah nodded to show that she was ready, and Tyler immediately lunged forward, swinging his sword diagonally in a powerful down strike. Sarah easily parried the attack, and the force of her block sent him stumbling back a pace, but he was straight on her again. Once more he struck, this time bringing his sword diagonally upwards. Sarah caught his sword with hers and trapped it against the floor. Using this to further her advantage, the brown haired girl stepped on her opponent's blade with her left foot, and with her right aimed a kick at Tyler's stomach.

The man was forced to jump backwards, but at the same time he jerked his sword to dislodge her, but she was expecting this, and used the momentum to jump back gracefully, and dodge the blow aimed at her leg. Sarah brought her sword round in a horizontal slash where it met Tyler's sword with a slight spark. They stayed like this for little over a second, Tyler's blade pointed towards the ground, before he gave slightly. The sudden unexpected jerk forwards set Sarah slightly off-balance, and using her split-second instability, Tyler swung his sword up with the aim of sending her skidding backwards, which worked.

Quick as a flash he darted forward and again swung his sword upwards. The sheer strength behind it made it impossible for Sarah to stay firmly lodged on the ground, and she was sent high into the air where Tyler thought her weaknesses lay.

During all those years of training together, Tyler had found and picked on her one biggest weakness – having to fight mid-air. Whenever her feet had left the ground before, she always felt like a fly fleeing a swatter. But now she was ready. Now she had an advantage.

As the fight progressed, Sarah realised how weird it felt to be fighting Tyler. She had been fighting him all her life, but it was now on different terms. It wasn't some dingy training room down the hall from the cells; this was a real training session in the real world, preparing for a real war. Of course, the old feelings of hate and anger were there, but it felt oddly surreal. Like she never thought she would be there.

Five minutes into the fight, and Sarah wasn't trying her hardest, Tyler was beginning to tire. The treatments SHARK offered didn't do as much for stamina as what SOLDIER offered. _This would be the key_, Sarah thought as she watched Tyler's eyes flicker warily as he weighed her up in the second-long interval, _their n__umbers don't matter as much if they can't last too long in battle._

Another two minutes later and Sarah won. The tip of her sword pressed into Tyler's chest as his sword clattered away noisily, the handle slick from sweat.

''Well,'' Sarah said and lowered her sword, ''you fight better than I remember. I guess the change in scenery did us all some good.''

Tyler glared at her, his hair plastered to his face. A bead of sweat trickled down his face. Sarah barely looked ruffled. Her hair was still hanging neatly down her back but her face was tinged pink for exercise, and her brown eyes had a lively sparkle.

''Tell me,''. Tyler was demanding an explanation from her. She wasn't too surprised and yet she hesitated. She didn't really know how much to tell him. Unconsciously, her left hand brush over a perfectly round red welt on her wrist, centred directly over her right pulse.

* * *

''_Sarah,'' D.Z said, looking up from the black velvet box and straight into her eyes. Underneath the table, Sarah's hand clenched in her lap, __''one of the reasons I chose _you_ as General instead of Tyler is because he is too hot headed and full of himself. Another reason is in this box, should you choose to accept.''_

'_Oh Lord…' Sarah thought as her stomach squirmed unpleasantly, 'I think I may vomit. On him.'_

''_Before you face your opponent, I want you to have this,'' he said, opening the box slowly, so that she could see the shiny object inside. Sarah's eyes reluctantly fell to it, and her jaw followed suit._

The Silver Materia!

''_What?'' was __Sarah's immediate reaction. How had D.Z got a hold of it, and did he know she had taken it in the first place. The other part of her brain, meanwhile, was celebrating furiously and singing '_'I don't have to get married, I don't have to get married, I don't have to get married!''

_D.Z carefully removed the delicate looking sphere from the box and examined it almost fondly. The sliver light was reflected curiously in his grey eyes, and made them seem more alive than usual._

''_Now, I know you have already had this in your possession once,'' he said quietly, and he shifted his gaze to hers, ''Zoutun, Shinra's imposter, sent it back to me.''_

_Sarah said nothing but continued to meet his gaze. If he was going to punish her for taking it he had another thing coming – she would just nick the Materia off of him and pummel the bastard!_

''_What I want to know is; did you use it?''_

_Had she used it? What kind of a question was that, sure 'how and why did you have it' would have been more appropriate? And what was she supposed to tell him…_

''_No.'' Sarah answered eventually. D.Z just nodded and confused Sarah a little more – he looked disappointed._

'_Well then Sarah,'' he straightened up and held out the sphere on the palm of his hand, ''are you ready to start your real training?''_

* * *

Sarah let out a huff of air which made her lips puff out slightly. Here goes nothing.

Her right fist clenched tightly as pain seared though her arm from the welt. Steadily, the Silver Materia emerged from her wrist and she caught it deftly in her left hand. She held it out for Tyler to see, but when no look of shock of wonder appeared on his face, a thought occurred to her.

''You already know what this is, don't you?'' she asked. His look confirmed it.

_That_ was how he'd done it. _That_ was how he had broken into Shinra's annual ball and gravely injured two Turks and knocked out Genesis. She had to tell someone – this was too huge! Here they had all been, worrying about how strong SHARK was, when Tyler had been cheating – well, she couldn't say much really could she? It was her turn to use the damned thing.

''I didn't realise that you had the gene,'' Sarah said quietly, feeling almost guilty.

''Yeah,'' he said. His tone of voice shocked her. It was nearly gentle and he looked almost sad, ''nearly all of us have the gene. That's why we were picked for SHARK.''

Sarah stared at him in disbelief. There was no way everybody here could have the gene needed to use the Silver Materia! It had been predicted that there would be only 200 people in the world with the gene, or was that just the active gene…?

''There was this big scare years ago about a genetic disease, and Shinra started offering test for free to everyone. It was just a ruse. They just wanted to see who had the necessary gene to wield this Materia. It seems that very few people had the active gene, and those who did were either too old or unhealthy to be any use.''

Sarah thought this sounded a bit far-fetched but she listened on. If they had been looking for someone else, why did records say that they decided to use _her_ for the experiments? Had she not been the first choice?

''They eventually found eight suitable people with the active gene. Three of them died training, one of them went insane trying to Master the Materia, two of them said they didn't want anything to do with it and were killed, and the other two… are us.''

''What! You mean you were found by Shinra!'' She was utterly shocked; never would she have expected this. ''How do you know all of this?''

Tyler shrugged nonchalantly. ''We've been able to recover a lot of information since that slimy git took the fat bastards place at Shinra.''

He was talking about Zoutun. Sarah was worried about his place at Shinra. She didn't like the fact that he could be looking up any manner of information at any time, about whomever, or whatever he pleased. Honestly, she didn't know quite why no-one at Shinra who knew he was an imposter had done anything about it yet. Everyone knew that Shinra only owned the company by a technicality now, and that it was really only the name that was his; it was all the department heads that really ran the show, but they put up a good front to keep the fat man happy and to sop him form cutting the funding to each of their own pockets.

''So, Uh,'' Sarah hesitated, not knowing how much more he was willing to share, ''when did they end up deciding to use me?''

''I think… it was fourteen years ago, and some kid got hold of the Materia, and injured himself badly. Then somehow you got hold of it and it seemed to work really well for you. Not sure what happened exactly, but I'd struggled a bit with it, so they switched the attention to you, and then, of course, Wutai got their hands on us.''

Sarah's eyes narrowed. This wasn't adding up at all! By the sound of it, Tyler should be in the same place she was; a place that hated Wutai, not Shinra.

''Wutai saw my fighting potential,'' the tall man carried on, ''and decided to train me up. I owe them my life – Shinra had decided to _dispose _of me.''

''Oh.'' Sarah said, and her eyes widened slightly. Okay, _that_ made sense. ''Man, this is fucked up!''

The more she heard of Shinra, the more the spark of dislike she held for Wutai and SHARK shone on Shinra's name too. They were ruthless, coldblooded, and didn't give a damn about anything apart from power. It seemed only the people were amicable; at least, some of them were…

Distantly, they heard the rumble of voices as people made the way from the barracks to the refectory for breakfast. It seemed strange that they could be sounding so normal when all around her; Sarah's life was becoming more and more blurred, even as more of it set into place. She half wished that she hadn't tried to find out about her past in the first place; it wasn't doing much for her resolve to work with Shinra that was for sure.

''We should go,'' Sarah said quietly and glanced at Tyler, ''D.Z is going to announce me as General and I have to be there.''

''What, you want me to baby sit you now?'' he jeered, the annoyance at her new position creeping back upon him. She shook her head disbelievingly at how quickly his demeanour could change.

''Tch, hardly,'' she laughed, ''but I can announce you as my Lieutenant at the same time. Come on.''

Tyler hesitated for a moment. ''You were actually serious about that?'' he asked, straining to keep the hopefulness and surprise out of his voice. Sarah just nodded and motioned for him to follow her. As she walked, Sarah slid the Materia back into her arm – the stupid thing didn't work if it was in a bangle or other piece of equipment, and it bloody _ki__lled_ when putting it in or taking it out. She winced as it disappeared and tried not to whimper as she was once again hit with the overwhelming feeling of hot iron pumping through her veins instead of blood. It stopped after about five seconds, but it still felt strange there, like an intruder that you can't shake off.

* * *

''Hey partner,'' Reno said from where he lay on the couch. He was in his apartment and Rude had just entered, closing the door behind him with a snap. Reno's apartment was surprisingly clean, apart from the odd item of clothing and a few dishes left unwashed. The Red haired Turk idly flicked through channels as Rude walked over to the fridge and silently pulled out two beers. He walked back over into the living area and chucked a bottle to Reno, who caught it deftly in one hand, before sitting down in one of the remaining black leather chairs.

Finding nothing interesting, Reno turned the large wall mounted T.V off and put an arm beneath his head as he took a swig of beer. For a minute there was silence apart from the odd rustle of clothing as they drank. The sky was growing steadily darker outside the window.

''Hey, er, d'you think we did the right thing?'' Reno asked eventually. Rude seemed to know what he was talking about and gave one of his customary silences. ''I know _she'll_ be fine, but I'm more worried about Tseng.''

Rude gave a rare chuckle and Reno seemed heartened but it. He began to talk with more gusto.

''I mean _seriously_, him and the General get missions together _loads_! Honestly never thought I'd see Sephiroth laying into someone like that; I thought that meeting was gonna come to blows. Cissnei and that Fair guy looked ready to bolt.''

''So did you,'' the bald Turk smirked.

''I wouldn't have missed that for the world,'' Reno smirked and took another swig of cold beer, ''Sephiroth versus Tseng; the show down. That's what we need.''

''That would be… entertaining,'' Rude said, and Reno didn't miss the humour in his tone.

''Dunno what got Sephiroth so worked up though,'' he mused out loud, ''maybe because she's in his department or something.''

''He likes Sarah,'' Rude said calmly, not reacting when Reno sat bolt upright and slopped beer down his shirt, his face mischievous.

''Seriously? I thought Rhapsodos did.''

Rude shook his head, ''Heard Rhapsodos talking to Hewley,'' he said as he sipped his drink.

''Heh-heh, I smell lots of opportunities for blackmail ahead of us,'' Reno grinned. Rude simply continued to drink in silent contemplation. With Sarah in Wutai, Sephiroth and Tseng would have to work together in order to help her efforts. Things could become very complicated if the let the fact that they both fancied the same person get in the way.

''With Sarah in Wutai,'' Rude said soberly, ''we can't expose Shinra as an imposter, in case it's traced back to her.''

''Yeah,'' the red-head muttered thoughtfully. He knew Rude was thinking the same thing as he was; what if Sarah wasn't really on their side? They had also received orders to kill her on sight, and hoped, not only for Tseng's sake, that they didn't have to go through with those orders. ''We just have to hope she knows what she is doing.''

* * *

Sarah surveyed the hundreds of people spanned out in front of her, Tyler and D.Z, all of them having jumped to attention as the Leader of SHARK entered the cafeteria. Standing there as she was, Sarah could finally get an idea of all the different types of people there; the larger more burly people who intimated the weaker ones, who seemed to group together. There were several more nerdy looking people in one corner of the cafeteria; no doubt they got bullied quite a bit (Sarah could sympathise with these people as she had quite a taste of bullying at Shinra), then there were the average everyday people, and the girls, who had also converged for the most part.

Yes, it was a right old mix of people, but all of them, even the bullies, had slightly awed looks on their faces as they gazed at their Leader. Sometimes the eyes would flicker over to her or Tyler, but mostly they were riveted on D.Z.

''At ease,'' D.Z said and as one the hall sat down, accompanied by the scraping of chairs, ''I have a quick announcement to make.''

Whispers hissed across the hall as if D.Z had just given a huge chunk of juicy gossip. Everything from announcing the date for attacking Shinra to girls getting chucked out of the programme was mentioned within the two short seconds before D.Z held up his hand to silence them once more. People's eyes flickered between the three figures still.

''Our time,'' D.Z said in a carrying voice, ''is nearing. The hour when we show the rest of the world our true might is drawing ever closer.''

The silence in the hall was deafening. Sarah didn't think that half of them dared to breathe. A lot of the people's faces showed fear, a lot of them excitement. But then she saw one which made her heart leap; a face full of revulsion – Blade's, the man who was the brother to her missing friend Fuchsia. She would start with him.

''You have been trained the better part of your lives for the day when we take on Shinra's might,'' D.Z let his intense gaze linger on a few individual people, effectively scaring them half to death, ''some of you thought this day would never come, and some of you have been begging for it to.''

Sarah saw one guy from Rank 21 grin hungrily as D.Z talked. She shivered. That man was going to be a problem.

''But, what army is complete without a true leader?'' he asked, his voice growing ever louder. Many people exchanged glances, clearly having thought that D.Z would be leading them. Sarah was sorely tempted to laugh. ''And it is for that reason that, as of last night, Ranks 21st Sarah has been given the position of SHARK's General.''

The roar was so deafening that Sarah took half a step back. All at once, every member of the hall had jumped to its feet and started shouting. At first Sarah had thought that they were angry, and that they didn't want her as General. But then she looked at their faces to see a savage or genuine delight there. D.Z glanced smugly at her surprised expression and Sarah leaned over to Tyler.

''Uh, they know he said me and not you, right?'' she asked just loud enough for him to hear over the applause. He simply gave a half smirk and motioned for her to stand straight again. Sarah honestly thought D.Z had been crazy to assume that they would accept her; now she just thought that _everybody _here was crazy. She'd deserted Wutai and managed to claw her way back in only because of a few of the weakest lies ever, and a couple of lucky blunders. Seriously, how could anyone here trust her?

She quickly glanced around the hall to find Blade's face but froze when she saw it. He was looking right at her, and he looked _murderous_.

Oh crap.

It was funny really, that she didn't realise how many times in that one day that thought was going to present itself to her. She was in for a bit of hell.

* * *

**_And there it is. Sarah's got a not-so happy customer waiting to complain._**

**_I'm trying really hard to work this story to the end, and review help loads n loads! Soooo... Please leave one? I work faster with them lol_**

**_Until next time,_**

**_UnchainedMelody94.  
_**


	33. Chapter 33

**_First of all I would like to thank Sable-sama for reviewing the first time I posted this chapter and for pointing out, basically what a shitty job I'd done of it. I have no excuse apart from that I was having a crappy day and was writing when all I wanted to do was sleep._**

**_I have changed the plot of this a bit so I hope, if you are reading this again, that it is an improvement on last time. Happy reading!_**

**_Also, I was thinking of coming up with a name for Sarah's group, and I'm sick of just calling it ''the rebellion'' so if you have any suggestios they would be welcome. All I've got so far is ''FF'' for Freedom Fighters and ''SRTM'' for ''Sarah's Rag-tag Team of Misfits'' lol._**

**_Please help me...  
_**

* * *

**Chapter 33_  
_**

''Congratulations!''

''Yeah, awesome!''

''We're gonna win for sure!''

''Shinra won't stand a chance.''

The people and their compliments passed her as Sarah stood at the entrance to the cafeteria, watching as everyone made their way to training. Some people simply looked at her reverently but others genially clapped her on the shoulder and said a few words. In response Sarah would nod or give a quick half-smile, but overall tried not to seem too open and friendly. She hoped that this way people would respect her as more of an authority, and not feel they could walk all over her if they wished; she didn't want a constant battle for their respect being waged.

As she stood there leaning casually against the door frame, Sarah pondered what her first course of action should be. Blade would have to be confronted as soon as possible and told the truth of what had happened to his sister. From what Sarah could tell it seemed as though he blamed _her_ for Fuchsia's apparent death, that is, if Fuchsia was really dead. She didn't know why, but Sarah couldn't give up on the hope that there was a chance that their siblings were still alive, somewhere. It was stupid really, and she couldn't call herself much of a leader if she kept clutching at straws like that, but the thought just wouldn't leave her.

If she could convince Blade that is was SHARK's fault, then maybe she could recruit him to her cause; hadn't Fuchsia said that her brother didn't care too much which side he was fighting for? If he knew that his twin had wanted to help her out, surely he could be persuaded to do the same. Providing it all went according to plan, Sarah could ask him whether or not he knew anyone else who wanted to join and so on and so forth. Yet the planning was the easy part, the difficulty would come in the execution of it. Blade could say no and report to D.Z, in which case he would have to be –_neutralised _– before he got the chance, or she could be found out when trying to organise her troops. Headache or no, however, she was going to give it a shot. She brought herself out of her thoughts as the last of the people – _her army_ – left the hall.

_Her army._

Boy did it feel strange to think that. All these people were under _her_ command. Is this what Sephiroth felt like every day? Able to give hundreds of men commands and see them carried out, knowing that if they disobeyed they would be punished until they did what their General ordered them to do. She had a feeling that she was enjoying this a little too much. What was more, the unbidden image of her remaining in Wutai and actually fight _for_ SHARK kept cropping up in the back of her mind, growing stronger and stronger until she had to physically hurt herself to bring herself back to reality. Sarah rubbed the sore spot on her wrist agitatedly; she had viciously dug her fingernails into the welt cause by the Silver materia, and it was now throbbing like mad.

''Oh well,'' She thought as she bit down on the pain, ''time for Operation Crazies.''

She waited for a few minutes until she heard the sounds of the wall being lowered in the training facility before heading there herself. The rooms were connected in blocks of four, and between the two by two sets of rooms ran a network of corridors. What really amazed Sarah was the obvious extent of engineering that had went towards this; the walls descended from grooves in the rocky cave ceiling suspended on heavy duty suspension wires. The floor of the cavern was a sort of rough laminate, but the walls were a strong metal alloy which provided a sturdy surround for each room. The rooms themselves were expansive, and could easily fit fifty people in to train. Her footsteps sounded dully on the ground as Sarah worked her way through the corridors until she reached the room in which Rank 18 trained. She paused outside the metal door, taking deep breathes to calm her suddenly raging nerves before she finally opened the door and entered.

On hearing the door opened people's head turned to see who it was. They immediately jumped to attention when they saw their newly appointed general walking in, but Sarah waved them off and said 'at ease'. The group looked to relax but Sarah could feel their tension. She motioned for the instructor to carry on with the training, trying to make it clear that she only wanted to observe.

The man simply barked an order for them to do warm-ups and Sarah was surprised to see all 21 of them fall into the same routine in perfect synchronicity even though they didn't seem to be paying any attention to each other. The general watched them all carefully; their movements were strong, purposeful and fluid – a lifetime's training was obviously not wasted on these people. She spotted blade in the middle of the group. He was scowling to himself as he stretched out his muscles, and Sarah knew it was her presence causing him to do that. She immediately felt a pang of guilt – she really should have been more forceful about not wanting Fuchsia to come on the mission to Midgar. That way she wouldn't have made an enemy out of someone she needed as an ally.

Blade continued to warm-up and ignore her. His light eyebrows were furrowed in concentration above his blue eyes, and his white blonde hair was cut so short as to not properly hide the tattoo on the back of his skull which read 'A0036'. Sarah frowned at this. Did every member of SHARK have their ID number stamped onto their skull, did she? She knew that the A stood for Alpha base, so supposedly the 0036 meant that he was the 36th experiment of that facility. Sarah still found it disturbing that they had been raised at the same base but never been in contact with each other. Had Tyler known about them? He'd never let anything slip if he had.

Sarah glanced up at the instructor who was watching her, and approached him. His expression changed quickly from curious to respectful as she approached and he stood to attention. Once more Sarah waved off the formalities and motioned for the man to relax. He did so outwardly but he was still on the alert.

''I wonder,'' Sarah said evenly, trying not to seem too eager, ''if I might take Blade for a few minutes. I think there is something I need to discuss with him.''

The Rank 18 instructor looked at her questioningly, but Sarah shook her head. '' It's about his sister,'' she said calmly, '' he has the right to know what happened to her.''

''What happened, if you don't mind me asking,'' was the gruff reply. The man spoke with a thick Wutain accent which mirrored his looks.

Sarah gave a slight shrug and shake of the head to show she didn't really know herself. She didn't want the man to think she was showing favouritism with anyone which was bound to happen if she pulled someone out personally and they didn't come back bearing obvious signs of punishment, so she'd came up with the idea of wanting to talk about Fuchsia – it was simple, believable and partly true.

''Official report is that she is dead,'' Sarah stated and her companion nodded as they both looked over to the man they were discussing. Deciding to act the part of General she asked, ''tell me about his abilities.''

''Well,'' he said slowly, ''he's always showed a lot of talent and he's very strong, though he doesn't possess much competence with tactics. His form is always of great standard and he seems to have mastered the basics of Materia at the very least, but we don't have enough resources to allow anyone below Rank 20 to further that training. All in all he's a darn good soldier, but not leader material.''

Sarah nodded slowly. It didn't matter if he wasn't leader material seeing as she would be the one doing most of the leading, but it was definitely a relief to know that he was a good combatant. If she managed to get him on her side he would make a fine first addition to her troop.

''In that case, could you send him to room 25 after warm-ups are finished. I'll be waiting there for him,'' Sarah said as she tore her eyes away from the boy and turned to the instructor, ''I don't know how long he'll be – I might test him one on one for a bit.''

After receiving a nod from the man Sarah turned about and exited the room. She thought that had gone pretty well. At the very least it didn't seem that the instructor was suspicious of her motives; which was fantastic. The female General made her way to room 25 and stepped into the empty space. She began to pace as she waited. The minutes lengthened and after a few Sarah took out her katana and went through the moves of an advanced kata which Angeal had taught her. She remembered the steps well, and by closing her eyes as she did it she could almost imagine that she was just in a training room as Shinra and not somewhere in Wutai leading the enemy's troops. Another few minutes passed in silence as Sarah worked through different moves she had come across in training before the door finally opened.

Sarah dropped her form and turned her head to see her awaited guest arrive. His face was forced into calmness but the muscles round his jaw were working furiously as he maintained his composure. Paranoid as she was, Sarah glanced around to check for the non-existent surveillance devices before addressing the other person in the room.

''Blade,'' She smiled, ''Good, you made it.''

There was an awkward moment of silence as a thought suddenly struck Sarah – had Fuchsia already mentioned the idea of the rebellion to her brother – was that why he was so angry. Her brain launched itself into a debate as to whether this was the case, or whether Blade's anger was purely at the fact that Sarah was apparently led Fuchsia to her death.

''Look,'' Sarah started again, this time in a quiet but serious voice, ''this is about Fuchsia. I don't know what you've heard about this, and I'm not really so sure what the truth is myself, but the official report is that she is dead.''

Blade's reaction was predictable. His jaw which was already clenched almost cracked with the force he was applying to it and his left hand balled into a fist while his right tightened around the handle of his broadsword. Sarah thought he might attack her straight off, and was prepared for it, but he seemed to take the silent threat of her position more seriously than she expected and remained unspeaking.

''She and Brandon, my brother,'' Sarah continued, pointing out that her siblings were also involved in this to try and make Blade feel less put upon, but the angered teenager seemed more enraged with this and lost his cool.

''So you killed not only my sister, but your own flesh and blood too! You're a monster! How can you even-''

''-I didn't kill anyone!'' Sarah shouted across him and Blade bit his tongue, obviously thinking she would kill him if he argued back. ''Alright, there isn't any surveillance in here so I going to talk freely, but if what I say leaves this room, you're going to regret it.''

Blade responded to this statement with a stony glare and Sarah took this as enough permission to carry on talking. She quickly explained her theory involving Fuchsia and Brandon's disappearance, and her plan of taking revenge on Wutai and SHARK for everything they had done to her.

''You see,'' Sarah urged, ''Zoutun said that they had been apprehended, but none of my friends did, so I think they must have gotten away somehow; they must have realised something was up and got out of there, or my friends helped them escape too! I mean, I can't be sure, but we can't give up hope… right?''

The teenager just stared up at her suspiciously. Somewhere through the conversation he had sat down on the floor as Sarah had paced back and forth, making wild gestures with her arms as she went through her plan with him, all the while looking out for signs that he was planning on betraying her trust. So far she had found none, but his suspicion wasn't going to be easy to get rid of. Finally Sarah asked the most important question of all.

''Will you help me?''

''Help you?'' Blade asked blankly. His blue eyes were empty and Sarah's stomach clenched. It looked as though he wasn't going to be co-operative, but then his face split into a grin, ''Of course I'll help! I thought you'd given up on it when you came back without Fuchsia and Brandon, but if you're serious then I'm in.''

''Really?'' Sarah grinned, barely able to contain her excitement and she skipped forward and knelt a few feet before Blade, her black baggy trousers collecting dirt from the floor.

''Yes,'' he said simply, ''Fuchsia told me about it before she left and had me convinced, so yeah, I'm in.''

''Brilliant!'' She exclaimed and flung herself forward and hugged Blade who stiffened uncomfortably, and Sarah quickly pulled back and apologised, ''sorry. First time someone from Shinra hugged me I nearly killed the poor guy; thought he was attacking me.''

Blade raised an eyebrow and laughed uncertainly.

''He was fine. Cloud and I are best friends now.''

* * *

Ten minutes later and Sarah was sitting in the same room but now surrounded by seven people. She vaguely recognised some of them from the lunch hall. It turned out that Blade had beaten her to the punch, and once the idea of rebelling against Wutai had been presented to him, he had launched himself into it with much gusto. Within the last day he had already sounded out six more people and they had more lined up awaiting approval. Sarah was astounded to say the least – he done it with much more ease and grace then she could ever have managed. Seated on the floor now were Blade and six of his friends; two of them were from Rank fifteen, and the other four were in his Rank 18 class, and it was this fact, more than any that had rendered her speechless.

''So, what's it like out there in the real world?'' Blade asked her as he leant back and propped himself up on his hands. Sarah was sitting next to him in their small circle, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them.

''It's amazing, but horrifying at the same time,'' Sarah said. These six people had never been outside before, just like most other people in SHARK. It was even more disgusting to her now that she'd seen the real world; she couldn't understand how they'd all managed to survive without the fresh air or being able to see the sky. She could still remember how awed she had been the first time she'd really looked around her after escaping the Wutai base. ''There's nothing like feeling the wind on your face for the first time, or when you first feel the rough bark of a tree under your fingertips. Of course there are bad things too like monsters and… and people, but just being outside is so much better than the sum of the bad parts.''

The first time she had woken up in the wilderness, she had simply stared at a tree for a full ten minutes. The foliage rose up all around her, and bamboo trees grew tall and strong among other types. She had been at the base of a mountain, and there had been a small river running down its side and the way the sunlight reflected off its surface had been mesmerising. That was when she had looked up directly at the sun. Having been used to dark underground halls she had screeched in pain and buried her face into the ground. And then there was the sky… the wide open expanse that seemed to stretch on forever; it had all been so… pure.

''What does the air taste like?'' This time it was a man named Kieran who spoke. He had a deep rasping voice, short black hair and matching obsidian eyes, and a tall, extremely muscular build. ''I saw the outside once, and got a whiff of it too. I thought I'd die if I couldn't get to it; almost got myself killed trying to.''

''I know how you feel, it's incredible. It's like you take the first breath, and you're a whole new person,'' Sarah breathed. Her chest was aching for it now – it was like a drug. She needed to get out of that stuffy yet cold underground base and see the sky. The urge clawed at her to the point of physical exhaustion, ''It's not like that everywhere though. Like in Midgar the air isn't so clean; better than in here, but over there the Mako reactors have killed off all of the plant life.''

''I… see,'' Kieran rasped, ''but why did they build them if they're so bad?''

Sarah had been afraid of this subject cropping up. SHARK had done a very good job when she thought about it; never let people see the outside world, and as soon as they taste fresh air they are hooked. Once they learn that the air tastes so sweet because of the plants producing oxygen, they will hate Shinra even more because of the life sucking Mako reactors. Even Sarah found it hard not to think this way.

''Comes down to it being profitable I guess,'' Sarah said and shook her head miserably, ''neither side is perfect, but for me Shinra is the lesser of two evils, given the current situation.''

Silence hung over them like a raincloud threatening to drown them. Sarah hoped that these people knew they wouldn't be obliged to work for Shinra after this was over; if they thought they were there would be trouble at hand. The guy to the left of Kieran whose name she had already forgotten seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her.

''If you're working for Shinra, and we'll all be working under you, does that mean that we''' all be working for Shinra too?'' the brunette guy asked tentatively. Sarah had to think carefully before responding.

''No, you'll be more like allies I guess,'' she explained, ''I'm pretty much doing this all off my own steam now. Technically I've deserted Shinra and should have been executed for treason, but that's only due to the fact the President has been compromised.''

''Taken you mean,'' Blade interjected. Sarah simply shrugged it off. She knew that she would have to find out where the old man was eventually, but couldn't risk asking anyone else to go around asking questions for her.

''Yeah well, I'm doing this for me now, but I may go back to Shinra after it's all over,'' the General said.

''Ah, so there's someone Special there?'' Blade teased her unexpectedly. Sarah had immediately planned to deny anything of the sort but her blush gave her away. She wanted to say that an image of Tseng had popped up in her head out of the blue when her stomach had done a little backflip, but her stupid little brain couldn't tell her who exactly she had been thinking of. However she had a good idea…

''Maybe,'' She replied sheepishly while she inwardly cursed herself. In the back of her mind a dark shadow with intimidating green eyes chuckled deeply.

''Be funny if it was that Sephiroth guy, wouldn't it,'' the man next to Kieran snorted and they whole circle laughed raucously. Sarah joined in the laughter, but for a whole different reason, and her stomach seemed to be doing not only somersaults but pirouettes and high jumps too.

''Yeah,'' Blade guffawed, ''Instead of ''_I am here to kill you_,'' she'd be like '_'I am her__e__ to love you_!''.'' The rest of the group tittered at his sing-song voice and Sarah squirmed uncomfortably, still in denial at what her brain was telling her.

''Ah yes! A tragic tale of love between two Generals!'' Another boy cried, holding one had over his heart while his other extended towards the sky. Sarah was feeling rather bemused now, like she wasn't fully in on the joke.

''Tragic? Why tragic?'' She frowned and laughed at the same time. She didn't want what she had with Sephiroth to be tragic! Wait- what? No, not Sephiroth, Tseng. Tseng, Tseng, Tseng Tseng Tseng! Well maybe Sephiroth…

The boy laughed and then cleared his throat importantly, and then began speaking in a ridiculous voice that was meant to be wise and powerful, like an old story teller trying to rapture an audience. He accompanied the story by a series on uncoordinated and irrelevant gestures with his arms.

''The two strongest warriors of the opposing Nations were forced to do battle, but neither wished to kill the other for they would be killing their own heart. Trapped by their unbreakable love and caught in a moment of indecision, a villain seizes his chance and his blade pierces the chest of the opposing Nations heroine. Enraged, the General left standing strikes down the villain though they are on the same side, and cradles his lover in his arms. With her last breath, she looks up at her beloved one last time and whispers the words ''I love you''. Blinded by grief his tears stain her face and he too is stabbed from behind as he mourns his love. So both great Warriors, thought to be undefeatable, fell to a weakness of the heart and their memories were lost in history.''

''Ha ha ha ha ha!'' The group of boys laughed at the expression on Sarah's faces, whose lips were parted and eyes were threatening to water.

''That's horrible,'' She squeaked as she continued to stare at the boy, completely aghast. During the story her mind had went into overdrive, and suddenly she and Sephiroth were playing the role of two lovers. She didn't want either one of them to die.

''You've never heard that story before?'' Blade chuckled and Sarah shook her head, ''we were all told that as children. It was meant to harden us up and never let ourselves be swayed by love.''

''That's a bit unfair,'' Sarah whined, ''I never got any stories; all I got was a knife and an order to kill whichever unlucky sod was sent my way!''

This was too true. She had never told anyone at Shinra about this, but growing up she had been taught how to kill by actually seeing it done and doing it herself. It had been traumatising at first, but then she had learned to detach herself from the act, and could convince herself that it was someone else doing it; if her mind was elsewhere, her body couldn't be blamed for doing another's bidding.

''Well,'' she admitted gruffly, ''It does sound pretty SHARK-like.''

''Didn't work on your sister though, did it?'' the story teller laughed and turned to Blade, ''she's with that Brandon dude isn't she?''

Sarah shot up onto her knees so quickly that the others yelled in shock and looked as if antlers had suddenly sprung out of her head. Her knees scraped badly on the gritty floor, even though her black trousers were made of a quite thick material.

''B-Brandon? MY Brandon? Why didn't you tell me?'' Sarah laughed and Blade chuckled. He had drawn back in alarm at her sudden movement and had looked ready to grab his weapon and start defending himself at any moment. Kieran and the others had acted similarly, but were now chuckling at her in disbelief.

''Calm down,'' Blade sighed exasperatedly and he let himself relax, one arm resting on his bent knee while the other supported him from behind, ''it's no big deal, they've only been going out a couple of months.''

''But still-'' she couldn't finish however, as her breath caught in her throat.

Sarah fell back down to the flood with a soft thud, all energy and excitement drained out of her in a flash. What if that was all they would ever get? What if they had been killed out there and would never be together again, all because Sarah hadn't been more forceful about not taking them with her to Midgar. She sighed heavily and looked at Blade. He simply blinked and then nodded to her, just enough to show he wasn't angry still. Well, not openly angry at any rate.

Sarah glanced at her watch and sighed. Her heart was surprisingly heavy just then considering how much father on in her plan she was. She had already informed each of the boys around her what she wanted them to do; mainly sounding out new people for the group, but also she wanted them to try and observe the instructors for Rank 11 and 12. They had been bothering her for some time now, ever since they had put her and Brandon together, and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

''Well, I've got to go and act like a General for a while, so I'll see you suckers later,'' she winked at them as she got up and stretched. The boys also got to their feet as she headed over to the door and called out goodbyes to her. She stopped before she reached the exit and turned back to them with a small pout on her lips, ''Oh when you go back to class could you try and look a little beaten up – I want to seem evil and scary.''

The group laughed and happily obliged. Blade ripped the sleeve of his shirt clean off, a few of them ruffled their hair and kicked off shoes, two of them going so far as to rip their clothes in strategic places with a knife, but the story teller boy seemed too enthusiastic and went as far as to pull his trousers down.

''Hey, I said beaten up, not molested!'' Sarah screeched and slapped her had to her forehead. The other boys turned to look at the story teller boy and roared with laughter when he jokingly wiggled his ass at them.

''What?'' he smirked, ''you said you wanted to seem scary.''

''THAT just makes me seem pervy!'' Sarah laughed as well as feeling slightly alarmed – she didn't want to be _that_ type of scary, more Sephiroth scary.

''Beggars can't be choosers,'' he grinned as Sarah sent him a mocking glowering look.

She half lidded her eyes and said in a pretend sexy growl, ''believe me, I am never the one to… beg.''

With that she turned on heel and walked to the door, purposely swinging her hips more than she usually would, her rubber-soled shoes beating a slow, steady rhythm on the floor. The boys' catcalls and wolf whistled followed her out of the room, and faded only when the door closed behind her.

''And I've gone crazy…'' she muttered to herself as she headed off down the corridor.

* * *

For the rest of that day, rumours seemed to be circulating about what the General had done to the boys when they had been called out of training that morning. It seemed that at lunch time, the boys had all got together and spun a pretty horrific tale of why they had turned up in class looked so roughed-up and dejected. Sarah was apprehensive about asking what the boys had _actually_ told people because everyone seemed to be either giving her a wide berth or being a hundred times more respectful that ever before. However, not even the nervous glances her way could put out the flame in her chest that had arisen over the sight of the first members of her rebellion all in one place together. It felt really good to be pulling a stunt like this, right in the enemy's lair.

Everything seemed to be falling into place. She had spent her lunch hour with Jennifer, Alexis, Annie, Connie and Tessie, and had a piano move to their apartment so they could play music. It had been more than funny to see the four year old blond girl beat on the keys with her little hands before beaming back up at Sarah and Alexis expecting praise. Alexis had just sighed and smiled, but Sarah had taken Anny up in her arms and gave her a big hug, saying, ''that was really good Annie, but why not let someone else have a go.''

Two seconds later Sarah had been pushed onto the stool by Alexis and told to play something. Having been taught music before Sarah played a simple melody for the girls to hear. She had been the only one of the six of them to get taught music and fighting, but Alexis and Jennifer, the two oldest, had at least been taught to read and write. The three of them had started teaching Connie and Tessie, but poor little Annabelle wouldn't sit down long enough to learn anything. Despite having been locked away underground their whole lives, the girls were surprisingly upbeat, quite like most people she had found recently. She could only assume it was because they didn't know how much else there was out there for them to see and experience. Or perhaps it was that they didn't want to show Sarah how they really felt because they felt sorry for her; maybe they thought she couldn't handle it.

It was selfish, but Sarah was inwardly thankful for this. She couldn't begin to express how much strength these five girls gave her by just smiling when she was around. Then again, they probably already knew. They seemed to know her much better than she knew them and that made her feel really bad. Sarah finally confided this to the two oldest girls that evening after dinner.

''Sarah, don't worry about it,'' Alexis said as she brushed a strand of red hair out of her eyes, ''you were always so busy with training, and you were tired.''

''Plus you were always trying to keep _us_ happy,'' Jen smiled, ''but I'm not going to thank you for introducing Annie to singing; that has ruined our lives.''

Annie was a terrible singer; there was no way of avoiding that fact. She was loud, off-key, and couldn't pronounce most words properly so it often just dissolved into senseless noise. Her endless enthusiasm and energy made up for it though, but they had to put their foot down when the twins joined in. Enough was enough.

Sarah laughed along with the other two girls, and realised it felt like home. She didn't even know what home felt like, or where home was, but right now, laughing like this with her two oldest friends in the world, she thought she knew.

Yet bliss is never lasting. She had met with D.Z that day, discussed plans for SHARK with Tyler and even sounded out two Rank 1 girls about joining her Rebellion, so the ringing of her phone and the order to get to D.Z's office immediately was completely unexpected.

Perplexed she bid her friends farewell and headed out of the room, turned left and navigated her way through the stone hallways towards the leader of SHARK's office. Outside of it, she ran into the armed guard stationed there, who nodded and knocked on the door for her. There was a call from within and the man opened the door for her and Sarah walked inside, head held high and hands gently curled by her sides. Her eyes quickly swept the room. Demetrio was sitting behind his new desk, the old one having fallen to her wrath, and he was eyeing the scene in front of him. The two sofas had been pushed back and the coffee table was nowhere to be seen. Two burly armed men stood just to the right and a little forward of where Sarah was now, and Tyler was standing on the opposite side of her, but next to the large wooden desk. However her eyes became riveted on the familiar figure kneeling on the carpet.

Her stomach dropped and clenched at the same time as she made her way to stand next to D.Z's desk, the opposite side of Tyler, where she could see the man's face.

''Tseng,'' she deadpanned. His hands were bound behind his back, his tie was loose and his white shirt spattered with his own blood. There was a nasty cut just above his left eye and a large bruise forming on his temple, and one on his jaw too, and his usually impeccably neat hair was falling out of its restraint. The black jacket and trousers he wore were caked in mud and dust, and had they been any other colour, Sarah swore she would have seen blood there too. He wasn't looking at her, just staring straight ahead, and didn't seem to notice the trickle of blood running down from the corner of his mouth.

''I thought you might recognise our esteemed guest,'' D.Z's voice drifted into her numb brain as she stared at the man, fighting to keep her expression devoid of any emotion. _Put that mask back on Sarah, _she told herself,_ play along for now and see how it goes._

* * *

**_And VIOLA! I cut a lot of content out of this from the last time, and may have just spoiled next chapters plotline ever so slightly soooo, yeah. I suck at this so thank you for putting up with this pile of turd for so long!_**

**_So help out a poor writer in need and review...  
_**

**_UnchainedMelody94_**


	34. Chapter 34

**_I feel that I should warn you that this chapter is most likely the most boring one I have ever wrote and I apologise deeply. I'm also sorry for the huge wait you have had to endure but I just couldn't think of how to proceed with this and I got in a bit of a mood with it lol. Anyway, enjoy!_**

* * *

**Chapter 34**

''H-how- what?'' Sarah stammered and turned to look at D.Z who was sitting behind his desk and smirking in an almost triumphant way. Anger and panic boiled in the pit of her stomach as she tried to think of a way to get both her and Tseng out of this mess alive and preferably unharmed, well, more so than he was at the moment.

''Sentries picked him up scouting a bit too close for comfort,'' Tyler said, also smirking and all the while watching her closely. Outwardly Sarah managed not to betray herself, but she felt a flash of fear at the look in the man's eyes. This was all too unexpected for her liking. Turning back she looked back down at Tseng, and though her heart was beating a rough staccato in her chest, she managed to work a sneer onto her face. The kneeling man didn't look up but the atmosphere in the room changed noticeably. D.Z relaxed slightly in his chair and Tyler's eyes finally flicked away from Sarah's face, even if it was only to share a sadistic grin with one of the guards in the room.

''So what's your plan for him?'' Sarah asked as she leant casually on the desk and folded her arms, ''Kill him?''

Of course she didn't want him dead, but she just needed to find out what they were planning for him. If it was imprisonment then she may find a way to help him escape, or maybe she could ask a couple of people to go with him; it could be useful to have people on the outside. Whatever happened, she couldn't let him die, not when her heart was beating so hard for him she was surprised it hadn't grown a mouth, jumped out of her chest and started screaming for him to live.

''Hmmmm, perhaps you would like to decide his fate,'' D.Z said smoothly as his fingers intertwined and he rested his chin upon their tips. In return Sarah raised an eyebrow and glanced questioningly at him. Tyler returned to staring intently at the girl to see if he could detect any hint of an impending betrayal, and Tseng continued to remain impassive.

''Me? I thought you would like to torture him for information, or have him disposed of directly; why are you asking me what I would like to do with him?'' Sarah turned back to look at the reason she was in so much pain at that moment, and an idea hit her. She cocked her head to the side and put on a smirking pout as she crooned, ''although, I could think of one or two things I would like to do with him – I worked hard to whip him into the right shape all those months I was in that hovel; he ended up being quite… _obedient_.''

A bout of raucous laughter met this statement and Sarah decided to run with it. She pushed herself off the desk and slowly paced around until she was directly behind Tseng, and then she ran her fingers lightly across his shoulder, up his neck and finally tangled them in his dishevelled hair. Roughly she yanked his head back so it was touching her and his eyes were forced to meet hers. Her left hand brushed up his throat and along his jaw, and she leaned over him to exert her power.

''These Shinra dogs… it's so easy to make them _beg_,'' she emphasised. Still Tseng didn't show any emotion and Sarah couldn't help but worry about how he was taking this. She could only hope that he wasn't going to spout out that they had never been together and ruin her only hope of saving him; he couldn't be that stupid, he wasn't Reno. Sarah threw the beaten man forward again so his face met the floor with a sickening crack. When he resurfaced this time it was with blood gushing from his nose.

_Crap, _Sarah thought, _di__dn't mean to do that! _

The young General walked back to her previous position but didn't lean back on the desk. Instead she stood with her arms folded and wearing an undeniably angry and contemptuous expression on her face.

''I offered to bring him with me but…,'' Sarah dragged this word out slowly as her voice reverberated around the room, and she took a deliberate step towards Tseng, ''… this – _hound_ – stayed loyal to the wrong master. Isn't that right?''

Sarah's glare was thickly laced with disgust. Off to her right Tyler licked his lips in anticipation of the pain he was sure that the girl would inflict on the Shinra scum. He would gladly do it himself if it was allowed, and maybe he could ask to. After all it seemed that his _General_ wasn't too happy with her silent runt. The thing still hadn't said a word and he knew that Sarah didn't like it when she didn't get her answers; only earlier that day she had given him a fractured ribcage when he didn't give his opinion on the impending matter of meeting with Lord Godo. Oh, he couldn't wait to see what she would do to him.

''He never really talks much,'' Sarah sighed heavily, clearly disappointed at the lack of reaction from the dark haired man, ''and so talking won't do much, but actions speak louder than words.''

Sarah back-handed him across his right cheek and for a second time he fell to the floor because of her. Mentally Sarah was cursing herself; she had to remember that with her greatly enhanced strength Tseng could sustain permanent damage. The two armed guards moved forward and each of them grabbed one of his arms and hauled him back onto his knees. Sarah was alarmed at how dazed he looked all of a sudden.

_Right, no more hitting him!_

''So what is your verdict? What shall we do with him?'' D.Z asked briskly, looking calmly up at Sarah as if commenting on the décor of the room. She hesitated for a moment and cocked her head to the side, surveying Tseng thoughtfully.

_Would it be too suspicious if I said I wanted to keep him? _Sarah mused quickly, _it would b__e safest for him to stay with me, but it could be risky if anyone starts suspecting anything, that is, if they haven't already…_

D.Z was looking on with interest and satisfaction. So much for the act of innocence she had pulled the first night in his office – now he was seeing the true girl. This was the person raised by SHARK; strong, decisive, determined, ruthless, and unforgiving. Yes she was the perfect person for this suicide mission, and after she had fought Sephiroth and undoubtedly been killed by him, Tyler would take her place at the head of SHARK's forces. Just like his warriors, Demetrio was unforgiving, and also a little impatient.

''Mmm, well,'' Sarah said, ''I've got to say I am tempted to keep him; after all I did always want a pet.''

The two guards grunted with laughter, but Tyler wrinkled his nose in disgust and shot a look at Tseng. Sarah caught this out of the corner of her eye and turned to look at the offending man, raising her eyebrows questioningly. In her mind she was screaming _"please__ don't cause trouble, please don't cause trouble!"_

''You want some snivelling animal to look after?'' The sandy-haired blond asked derisively. When Sarah didn't show signs of relenting he let out a small huff of air and shrugged his shoulders saying, "That's your prerogative.''

The female General had a hard time hiding her relief at the lack of suspicion from her old nemesis. Tyler could sometimes be very observant, almost as much as a Turk, but it seemed that today wasn't one of those days. She could only suppose it was because her own behaviour was so out of character that he didn't know what to expect, although she was nervous that these people surrounding her almost expected her to act like this. They had clearly not taken note of how she had behaved around people in Shinra.

''So you will keep him with you?'' D.Z asked and Sarah turned to look at him to see a mischievous glitter in his eye, raising an eyebrow in return. She had to marvel at how different the people on the two sides of the war were. Her friends from Shinra, especially Cloud and Ross, would jokingly insinuate things all the time with a playful glint in their eyes, but the look in D.Z's was so much darker. It frightened her a little.

''I don't think so,'' Sarah stated, finally making her decision, "I think I'll keep him in the cells when I don't want him around; less hassle - unless there are any objections.''

Sarah looked around the room commandingly, giving a look that clearly said there would be trouble if there was any objection. The effect this had on them varied interestingly; the two guards looked scared, Tyler looked apprehensive, and outwardly D.Z didn't show anything, but she could tell he was thinking about flying crystal ashtrays smashing his head open. His eyes snapped up to Sarah's when she looked at him, and she couldn't help a small smirk tugging at her lips before she turned her attention back to her room. Tseng still remained impassive and Sarah couldn't help but admire him for it. She wondered what he would have done if she'd said she didn't mind if he died…

''Take him away,'' the dark haired man ordered form behind the desk, and the two guards stepped forwards and dragged Tseng out of the room. Tyler followed at a more sedate pace, but Sarah remained where she was for the time being, watching after them expressionlessly. Her foot tapped idly on the floor for a few beats before she heard the slight creak and scrape of the chair behind the desk as the leader of SHARK stood up, and then the soft thud of his steps as he walked around the desk and into her line of sight. The older man stopped in the middle of the room where he could observe her properly, smirking.

"So much for the Miss Innocent act you pulled the other day," he goaded her.

"So much for the _feel sorry for me_ shit you pulled," Sarah retorted, her eyes never leaving the door. Honestly, the stuff he had said had irritated her, but not nearly as much as having almost fell for it. She shook her head slightly and made a noncommittal gesture with her arms, ''I know which cards to play and when.''

''So it seems,'' came the thoughtful reply. The room was silent for a few moments as Sarah wondered what to say to the man. If she had her way she would just walk out now and save hearing his pontificating about SHARK etc. but she wanted yet more answers.

''Why did you have Tseng brought here,'' she asked in an off handed manner, trying not to seem to care too much. D.Z replied with a small ''Hm?'' and Sarah looked at him steadily, her heart seeming to have jumped into her throat out of nerves. ''I know you had him brought here; it's no coincidence that he was scouting so close was it?''

The man simply raised his eyebrows and said with a slight frown, ''I don't know where you got that idea from.''

Sarah hesitated. Was he just kidding, or did he really not know what she was talking about. She carefully shifted her weight onto one leg and observed her boss. He didn't show any signs of lying, but then again he was a sneaky bastard who would naturally be very good at lying. All pretences of softness and stupidity he had previously displayed had been for her benefit, to get her to realign herself with SHARK, and she had almost fell for it. There had to be some reason behind Tseng being captured, it wasn't just coincidence.

"Come on," she said quietly, "don't lie to me. I know you had him sent here from Midgar, what I can't figure out is why."  
He didn't reply but he did let a small smile play on his lips as he watched her. Sarah was a little confused; did the smile mean she was onto something, or did it mean she was heading her way into trouble?  
''Was it insurance?" she questioned slowly, watching intently for a reaction from him, ''if I do something wrong you kill him? No, that's not it is it?''

Again he didn't speak, but he did keep that creepy smile on his face so Sarah looked away momentarily to clear her head and think. So he wasn't going to tell her, she had to figure it out on her own, yet would he tell her if her assumptions were right or would it be heavy object to the head time again? In a way she would just like to hurt him some more, it was just as satisfying as getting answers.

''You've been trying so hard to get me on your side,'' she muttered slowly, and then looked up at him is surprise, ''and this was just another way? What, you still don't trust me?''

Bingo! D.Z's expression faltered minutely and gave him away. However, far from feeling elated at getting her answer, Sarah began to inwardly panic – he didn't trust her (not that she should be surprised), and he was trying to blackmail her into working for him, or securing her loyalty. But that didn't make sense. If he didn't trust her, why did he entrust such an important position and task on her? No sane person would knowingly give a powerful weapon to an enemy within their ranks, would they?

_Well can you call D.Z sane? _Sarah asked herself, _I think not._

''So what is it?'' She asked, her voice now commanding, ''what are you not telling me, I want to know. I agreed to come back here for free reign and I expect that to include any information I need. I won't hesitate to use force if necessary.''

''So you'll hurt me and not your little boyfriend, how interesting,'' he said snidely and she rolled her eyes.

_What in the name of all that is good and holy is he on about?_ Sarah thought,_ I ju__st beat the crap out of Tseng and maybe gave him brain damage, and now that doesn't count as hurting someone. Hmmm, I wonder what I could get away with doing to certain other people around here then. I sincerely hope decapitation is on the list._

''I don't need answers from him; I already know what his crimes are,'' Sarah retorted stoutly, her eyes narrowing dangerously, but D.Z wasn't deterred and cocked a half grin and shook his head. The small girl raised her chin and glared at him. Surely he was just about to tell her what she already knew.

''Are you sure you know the full extent of the atrocities he committed,'' D.Z questioned lightly.

''He killed my parents,'' Sarah snapped, but then hesitated. Should she start spouting off about how Tseng had shot Julian and Clarissa Faller on orders of SHARK she could land herself in trouble, so she said the safe thing, ''he was working for Shinra at the time.''

''You don't think Shinra would have worked harder to get to valuable workers back?'' D.Z said smoothly, ''they were, after all, working on a very important project.''

Sarah faltered. She hadn't really considered this at all to be honest; she had focused solely on the fact and not the circumstances around it. But now she was thinking about it, it did seem a little odd that Tseng had killed them and not made a rescue attempt. From what he had told her it would have been possible to take the people in that room without too much risk, so why didn't he. Why did he let them die, and let her become who she was today?  
Long held back anger at her misfortune began bubbling in the pit of her stomach and she turned her head away from the man standing before her. She had to get a grip; surely he was just goading her, lying to make her angry enough to want full blown revenge.

''How am I supposed to know?'' Sarah quipped, turning to her right and walking three paces away so her back was to the leader of SHARK. Her breathing became deep as she tried to stopper the dangerous emotions threatening to overwhelm her as D.Z sighed. He began to pace as he spoke, Sarah now not being able to distinguish lies from truth.

''Your parents were working under Doctor Hollander,'' he began boldly, but taking care not to push the girl over the edge as he continued, ''and when they went missing he immediately petitioned to get them rescued. However, after people were dispatched, Hojo made the claim that they were spilling Shinra secrets and gave some convincing evidence. He wanted you dead.''

Sarah quickly turned her head and glanced over her shoulder at D.Z. Why did that sound plausible? She knew that Hojo hated her as she did him, but were all those insults about being "nothing more than an experiment" aimed at the fact she had been part of Hollanders project? If he had taken such delight in her misery he would have told her this himself, he was twisted enough to see it as a good idea.

''Hojo wanted me dead, why?''

''The Shinra science department was and is very competitive, each scientist working for his own glory in the field,'' he told her. Sarah frowned, along with other things, the recognition of her as a failed experiment when she first came to Shinra would have been an excellent way to discredit Hollander, so why did he not do it openly, if at all. ''He didn't want to risk any competition against his prototype SOLDIER.''

''Sephiroth…'' Sarah breathed, but again set about thinking; Sephiroth was the prototype SOLDER, and the strongest. The creation of the Silver Materia threatened to outdo him if the right host for it was found. Eventually they settled on using Sarah after others had failed and died, and for some reason this had all been accredited to Hollander. Somewhere along the line she and her parents had been taken, along with the materia, and… Hojo was the reason they weren't brought back alive?

Just what the fuck…?

Sarah quickly shook her head. They were getting way off track here so she turned around and looked the grey suit clad man straight in the eye, ''But what does this have to do with bringing Tseng here?''

She swore she would actually kill him this time if he didn't give her a straight answer. Frustration and accompanying adrenaline were burning her head and chest like acid. She really didn't need this. She needed to keep a clear head and focus on her goals, not be stuck wondering if she really wanted to help Shinra win the war or attempt to take both sides down regardless. All she knew for certain was that she didn't want to allow SHARK's continued existence, the verdict on Shinra would have to wait for now. Sarah raised her head slightly as D.Z began to give his answer.

''I thought you might like confirmation,'' he said simply, ''but I wasn't going to say anything since you wanted to keep him – his features may not be so pleasant after interrogation.''

He smiled as he said this to lighten the mood. The girl may just be a pawn in his master plan but she was a dangerous one. He couldn't afford to make her lose her temper again or he may not live to see the day that Shinra fell and his family's death was avenged.

''You know one of the reasons I said I wanted to keep him was because I wanted to see what you would do," Sarah said sheepishly, and was having a hard time on not commending D.Z for his thoughtfulness. Yet she did now know that Tseng would have been brutally tortured if she hadn't jumped in, "sometimes you really don't make much sense.''

''And why should I?''

Sarah raised an eyebrow but didn't elaborate. She just wanted to get out of there and see Tseng.

''Well is that all, or are there any other bombshells you want to drop on me whilst I'm here?''

''Feel free,'' he said and gestured towards the door. ''Oh, don't forget, the meeting with Lord Godo is in two days' time. Think about what you're going to say to him, getting this alliance will be the first important task you will carry out as General.''

And with that he walked back behind his desk and sat down to his paper work. Realising his final dismissal Sarah walked out of the room and towards her own apartment. She was met by an unpleasant surprise.

''Hey! Just what do you think you're doing? I reserve the sole right to cause any damage to my property, and if I see you at it again you will be duly punished. Get out of here! And you, on your feet.''

Sarah roughly grabbed Tseng's upper arm, used her key card to open the door to her small apartment and pushed the man through the door as the others hurried off. Thankfully she managed to catch herself before hurling him to hard and hurting him some more and this time he only stumbled in the direction of the couch. Sarah quickly glanced left and right to check that no-one else was around before following him in and locking the door behind her. Her heart was racing in her chest, fearing what his reaction to her would be now that they were alone. She bit her lip and leant her back against the metal door, looking at him apologetically.

''I am so so so so so so sorry!'' she breathed squeakily, meaning every word she said, ''I really didn't mean to hurt you.''

His gaze burnt her. He wasn't glaring or scared, but he was looking at her almost sadly. His hands were still bound behind his back, but she was glad to see that he wasn't looking faint from his wounds, yet that look he was giving her affected her more than anything; he was disappointed.

''I never would have expected it of you Sarah,'' he said quietly with remarkable composure considering the situation, ''you were however, very convincing.''

Sarah could do nothing but stare. This all seemed too surreal – his presence here was so unrealistic, like something out of a night-time vision. He didn't belong here, from the way he held himself to his attire; everything about him just seemed so out of place, like a glacier in the desert.  
She pushed herself off the door and softly made her way over to him, their eyes never breaking contact until she was two feet away. Sarah reluctantly peeled her eyes away from his own intoxicatingly deep ones and put her hand on his arm, encouraging him to turn around. He did so just enough so he could watch her over his shoulder and she undid the fastenings on his wrists. The leather straps came off easily and she dropped them on the oak coffee table to her right.

''Err... sit down, I'll get some bandages,'' Sarah said quietly, now not able to meet Tseng's gaze.

She quickly stepped away from him and went to a cupboard in the small kitchenette and retrieved a first aid kit. Shaking slightly she took it back over to the sofa where Tseng was now sitting and began to treat his wounds silently. She gently wiped the blood off his face, determinedly fixating on the injuries and trying to forget that it was Tseng she was treating. Sarah could feel his eyes on her, and she hated it. She hated in the way that it felt so good that it hurt; to have him so close to her and yet feel there was a ten foot concrete wall resting between them. All she had to do to break it was look up at him, but she couldn't. Brushing a strand of hair out the way she began to dab antiseptic on the cut above his eye before covering them efficiently. It took a couple of minutes before Sarah was satisfied, and then turned her attention to the part she had been dreading and looking forward to.

''Okay, shirt off,'' Sarah said quickly after finishing on his face and tried desperately to fight the blush creeping up her face. Tseng raised an eyebrow at her embarrassment, but Sarah missed the small sparkle in his eye that said he was secretly happy to hear this order. ''What, I'm not an idiot,'' Sarah defended, "I know how to treat wounds.'' (Plus I really want to see you with your shirt off!)

The brown haired girl had to bite her tongue to stop the giggles that bubbled up from her stomach as the Turk bean to slowly, she could swear almost teasingly, remove first his jacket before unbuttoning his shirt. Sarah began to feel dizzy and looked away out of politeness, though she would rather have watched the show. The fact that she hadn't fainted already shocked her, but unfortunately not enough to stop a smile unfurling on her lips which she immediately hid as she fought to compose herself. Behind her the rustling of clothes ceased and she turned around, bracing herself for what she was about to see.

_Oh fucking wow! He looks just about edible, beaten up and all…_

Sarah's trembling fingers reached up to his bare right shoulder where there was a small knife wound and went through the same routine as for the injuries on his face. First she mopped up the excess blood before cleaning the wound and sealing it. She was well aware that her ears were burning as she refused to look at that gorgeous toned body; he was slim but all muscle. As Sarah was working he continued to watch her, his dark eyes never leaving her face.

''You know what I'm going to ask,'' he said quietly as she dressed the cut, and Sarah finally glanced up at him. She almost forgot how to speak in that single moment. Her breath left her body and time slowed and swirled around them. She swallowed and her eyes darted around the room once before returning her focus to his shoulder.

''Why I'm back here?'' she asked and he confirmed it with a nod. Sarah took a deep breath and began talking in a monotone voice. ''Shinra has been too deeply infiltrated. Zoutun won't allow military action against SHARK; he'll keep on stalling until we're ready to take down the military in Midgar and Junon. After that it is pretty much checkmate; the real President will be killed, Rufus too no doubt. Headquarters will be destroyed and SOLDIER will be taken down.''

Sarah finished on his shoulder and reached for a new set of bandages for his ribs. Tseng's look was turning stony, and he couldn't believe what she was saying. Was she giving up? Had the months spent at Shinra been for nothing, and meant not a thing to her?

''Are you trying to say you really have switched sides,'' he asked stoically, ''just because the going got rough.''

Sarah looked up at him sadly, the gravity of the conversation providing a useful distraction to the thoughts running through her head when she looked at his shirtless form. She didn't know what to tell him; she could lie and cast off the risk of it being tortured out of him when she was not around, or she could trust him and put his presence to good use. Sighing she decided on the latter option as she finished applying the finishing touches to his bandages.

''I could have come here, worked my way back in, planted bombs and ran, but that is too risky, not to mention cowardly,'' Sarah said briskly, pulling the bandages too hard and causing him to wince in pain, "besides there are people here who don't want to fight, and not even I'm monster enough to kill them when they want to be innocent.''

''Sarah-'' he began but she cut him off authoratively.

''Shinra can't take military action, and I can't do much without help from the outside,'' Sarah said seriously but then smiled wryly, "but right now I am not working for Shinra, and "_not much"_ may be enough, even if it's uncertain what help, if any, I can get.''

Turning away she gathered the medical supplies up and took them back to the cupboard. She neatly stashed them away before washing her hands thoroughly to rid them of any traces of blood. The steaming water rinsed the bubbles of soap off her skin and she turned the tap off, shaking her hands of water droplets before drying them properly on a towel.

''I'm happy to do this by myself,'' she announced after a while, "If that's what it takes. I'll find a way.''

"There will be another way to do this, we can get help,'' Tseng said from the sofa, wincing slightly as he put his shirt back on. He purposely left the buttons undone.

''How? There's a timer on Shinra's life, in two days I'll be meeting with Godo to unite the Wutai army and SHARK and D.Z is hoping that I'll be General over all Wutai forces, and after that it may only be a matter of days before we start full assaults on Shinra.''

Sarah threw the hand-towel onto the bench moodily and turned back to look at Tseng. Having stood up, he turned to face her fully, and Sarah couldn't stop her eyes from quickly darting to his exposed chest. She quickly cleared her throat and looked him in the eye.

''Any attacks on Wutai have to be authorised by the president, who Zoutun in impersonating, and if we attack full on there's little chance Shinra will make it. Then, once the President is no longer needed, the real Shinra will be killed and that will be the end of the company.''

Tseng seemed stumped. Any way they looked at it, Shinra was under great odds of being crushed in a single blow, SOLDIER and all.

''My way… is the only way, and you are going to help me,'' Sarah said quietly.

''How? What do you want me to do?'' Tseng replied quickly. Suddenly he backtracked in his mind. Since when was Sarah giving out all the orders? For some reason it just didn't feel right, though logically she was the right person to do it.

''You're going to stay here a couple of days until your wounds are healed, and then you are going to ''escape'' along with two of my operatives,'' Sarah instructed clearly. ''You will be my contact on the outside. Lay low until I have instructions for you; I think your main responsibility will be locating the president. He can't be too far from Shinra HQ.''

As she had been talking, Sarah had unwittingly made her way back towards Tseng and was now only a few feet away from him. The Turk responded to her with a nod but didn't shift his gaze away from her. Opposite him, Sarah had downturned her eyes to the floor and was working up the courage to ask him a burning question. He moved slowly towards her, hooked his finger under her chin and made her look up at him.

''What's troubling you?'' he murmured. Sarah's lips parted slightly but no sound came out. She couldn't think of how to produce anything remotely coherent so she satyed silent, but couldn't tear her eyes away from him. He took this as a good sign and kissed her.

* * *

_**Just incase you are wondering, Sarah still likes Tseng but she also likes Sephiroth and this is just confusing her and she doesn't know what to feel or do. She's trying to get Tseng out of the way so she can concentrate on her mission.**_  
_**By the way, she may be running into Sephiroth soon...**_

_**Any-hoo. please review?**_

_**UnchainedMelody94**_


	35. Chapter 35

**Hey here I am again. Sorry for the huge delay in continuing this, I have been going through a lot. Well, enough said, on with the chapter.**

* * *

Sarah started as Tseng kissed her, but then found herself sinking into it. The feeling was great, blissful even. That was, of course, until the niggling voice in the back of her head decided to grow arms and start beating her skull in whilst screaming, ''HELLO! Aren't you forgetting someone!''

As if doused by a bucket of water, Sarah quickly jerked back. Well, more like jumped backwards, staring at Tseng as if she had never met him.

''What are you doing?'' she half breathed and half squeaked. Tseng looked confused, just as startled as when she had pulled away. Obviously he thought he would meet no objections.

''I thought you wanted this,'' he said evenly, stepping forward and looking down at her carefully. Sarah flustered for a moment on what to say.

''Wh-we-well… you were the one who said nothing could ever happen between us?'' She blurted out. ''Has that suddenly changed now because we're in Wutai?''

''Sarah, what's going on? Don't you like me anymore?'' he asked quietly, making Sarah feel suddenly guilty. She wondered if Tseng really liked her as much as he was putting on.

''Look,'' she said awkwardly, ''it's just not the right time. We have to concentrate on this mission. I can't afford to get side tracked.''

Tseng actually took a step back at this and he surveyed her thoughtfully.

''You have a lot more control over yourself than you let on,'' he said. He sounded a little surprised.

''Yeah well, Wutai brings out the worst in me I guess,'' Sarah replied, hoping to sound offhand. She looked away to the ground for a moment and scratched the back of her head awkwardly. ''Look, I really need to get some sleep. You can take my room if you want; you're injured.''

Tseng immediately shook his head. ''That's alright,'' he said, acting, like always, as the proper gentleman. ''I'll sleep on the couch.''

It was only about an hour later when Sarah had finished her paperwork and got settled beneath the covers of her large bed that she finally realised the enormity of what she had done. She had refused Tseng; what the hell was she thinking? Having fancied him from day one was hard enough, but having pushed him away. This could only mean one thing… she was crazy!

Sighing angrily, she turned over, buried her face in her pillow, and dropped off into an uneasy sleep.

* * *

''Dude… did get wasted last night, or what?'' Reno murmured lazily, not yet having comprehended that he was lying in a dried up puddle of his own blood on the forest floor. He moved his head to the side, expecting to see Rude there, but instead came face to face with some foliage. Blowing it out of his face he jerked up into a sitting position and whipped his head around, taking in his surroundings.

''Uhhh Boss man?'' he called unsurely, looking carefully in the pale morning light for a sign of the other Turk, ''Yo, Tseng?''

Gingerly he got to his feet, wincing from his injuries. His hand drifted instinctively towards his EM Rod. It was definite; Tseng was nowhere to be seen. Just what the hell had happened last night? Obviously they had been attacked. Maybe it had been SHARK – had Sarah been one of their numbers?

''Sleeping on Company time, Reno,'' said a voice from the bushes. He had been watched, ''not very professional.''

Mentally braced for a fight, Reno turned around cockily, drawing up his EM Rod to rest on his shoulder.

''Can't survive without my forty winks,'' he grinned slyly at the incoming figure, relaxing slightly when he saw who it was, or rather who they were. Angeal Hewley and two infantrymen stepped out of the bushes.

''Tseng?'' Angeal asked, looking around him for the missing Turk.

''No idea,'' Reno said ''Woke up alone. Never thought I'd say that…'' he joked as an afterthought.

Angeal frowned and motioned to the infantrymen to search the area. Reno ran a hand through his unruly, twig-tangled hair.

''What's our status?'' he asked after a while. Angeal, who had been gazing around thoughtfully, snapped his eyes back to Reno.

''All missions in Wutai are on hiatus. There haven't been any attacks on our camps in two days,'' he said and cast the Turk a significant look.

''How nice,'' he said sarcastically, ''our Presidents bought us some time to regroup.''

Angeal folded his arms and gazed into the bushes to his left.

''Sephiroth will be here in three days,'' he murmured eventually, ''I wonder if they are waiting until then to attack… crush us all with one blow.''

''Whatever dude,'' Reno groaned as he stretched, ''I have catch a transport back to Headquarters.''

However, the redhead hadn't even taken two steps before Angeal stopped him. The other man's head turned slightly towards him, and without taking his eyes off the bushes he spoke.

''The reports already came back that you're dead. Tseng too,'' Angeal told him. Reno stopped in his tracks. He sighed angrily and turned fully towards the SOLDIER. ''It'll be best if you just lay low nearby. I'll keep you filled in, and tell you when you can be useful.''

''Great…''

* * *

Sarah groaned lightly as she woke up. She hated this. Before now, she had been able to get up, even in Wutai, with a sense of purpose and decidedness, and just go on through the day without much trepidation… how much that had changed because of Tseng.

Bleary-eyed and with a headache from troubled dreams, the fighter rolled out of bed, stretched and made her way to take a quick shower before breakfast.

''Strange…'' she thought as she lathered soap into her body, ''I would have killed for this type of situation with Tseng not so long ago. When did that change?''

She turned her face upwards and let the hot water hit her face, trying to imagine it washing away all her troubles. If only it could wash away the myriad of confused emotions within her, or a lifetime of cruelty. But, then again, after all of this, what did she have? What if the things she was fighting for wouldn't be enough? Having fought all her life… would she be able to accept the change? Or would she stay with Shinra forever…

Sarah stepped out of the shower and quickly dried herself off, silently praying that Tseng would still be asleep when she went outside. However, she knew she was just gripping at straws; Tseng was a Turk, if he hadn't already been awake, he would most definitely been roused by the sound of her getting up. She sighed as she pulled her clothes on – there was no delaying the inevitable.

With her heart pounding so violently that she felt sick, she stepped outside into her living area. The first thing her eyes fell on was Tseng. He was sitting on the sofa apparently staring at nothing, as if he had been there for hours.

_Not falling for it…_

A quick glance around her room confirmed the obvious. She may not be a Turk, but she was perceptive and intelligent. The first thing Tseng would have done would be to look around her room for information or a way to get out. A file that she had left out (not on purpose) was slightly out of place, and her bag with training equipment in, which stayed next to her door as it contained nothing valuable, wasn't closed properly.

''Morning,'' she said quietly, carefully pretending to have not noticed these small details, as she went over to her kitchen and took out a bottle of water from the fridge.

Tseng said nothing and continued staring into the air before him. Sarah wondered if he was angry with her. She couldn't blame him if he was; he was her captive, locked behind enemy lines. What was more; she had refused his advances the night before. Casting her mind back, Sarah remembered how crushed she had been when Tseng had kissed her and then ran away at the Shinra ball. Did he feel the same way now?

Probably not – Turks had training in putting aside their emotions. Yet Tseng wasn't totally dead inside. He had a heart. Sarah sighed. She couldn't stand around here all day long.

''You can stay here today,'' she said as she walked over to the door. ''I'll send someone along later with some food, and feel free to use the shower.''

She cast a glance back over her shoulder, only to find that he still hadn't moved. Was this his version of sulking?

''Well, um… see you later.''

* * *

Sephiroth only just managed to refrain from yelling out in anger as he read the message that had just been sent to his phone. It was from Hojo. The mad little man wanted him down in the training room to test out a new simulation for SOLDIER.

Clicking the contraption shut he slid it back into his pocket and stood up from behind his desk. He spared his unfinished paperwork one last contemptuous glance before heading out to the elevator.

Why Hojo needed _him_ there, of all people? He wouldn't have any trouble with whatever the fool had cooked up; the tests should be run with a second class SOLDIER in controlled conditions to secure the best results.

The elevator doors slid open, and Sephiroth stepped into the mercifully empty space. As they slid shut again, the silver-haired General cast his mind over the situation in Wutai. Angeal hadn't been out there long, and already two reports of deaths had reached his ears. The Turks department had tried to keep it quiet, but Sephiroth had still found out that both Tseng and Reno were dead. He hadn't heard anything from Angeal, but then again, it would take time to find anything out about Sarah.

**The day before**

''She has no idea what she is doing, does she?'' Sephiroth growled as he paced back and forth in his private quarters. Genesis and Angeal were watching him cautiously from the sofa, not quite sure what to say or do. Sure, Sephiroth would get mood swings every now and again, but they had never, _never_ seen him like this before. Usually he would just spar viciously with people until their arms were about ready to fall off. ''She is going to go and get herself killed!''

''Sephiroth calm down,'' Angeal tried to reason with the irate General, ''she's not stupid, I'm sure she has a plan.''

''She lasted only two days last time before she was arrested, I highly doubt this time will be much better,'' Sephiroth said as he dismissed his dark haired friends claims.

''_When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end  
The goddess descends from the sky  
Wings of light and dark spread afar  
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting,'' _Genesis quoted sombrely from his red leather bound book.

''Genesis,'' Angeal said as he watched Sephiroth pinch the bridge of his nose, ''I don't think that now is really the time to be quoting Loveless.''

The two friends continued to watch the General for a few moments before Angeal spoke once more.

''All we can do is try and find her before she slips up,'' he said. ''We can try and help her.''

**End flashback**

They had made an arrangement, if anything about the girl was discovered; they would contact each other first, instead of making an official report. That way they could decide what was to be done between them.

One thing could be said for sure; having an imposter running the company really made for some serious headaches.

* * *

Sarah looked around at the hall of Girls in front of her. There were only about forty in total, and all split between Rank 1 and Rank 2. For this session, Sarah had opened up two adjacent training rooms into one double sized room so they had plenty of space.

For about quarter of a minute, Sarah said nothing. She paced back and forth slowly, her eyes flitting over all of their faces. Taking in all of their expressions she managed to get a good estimate of the people who she could persuade not to fight on SHARK's side. At long last, she came to a halt in the middle of the room and turned to face the trainees.

''I've brought you all together here to test you,'' the General said abruptly. ''Your training has been inefficient and your instructors blinded by prejudice.''

A few girls linked in surprise at this, and turned to exchange glances with their friends. Sarah ignored them.

''Girls can make just as good fighters as men can, and in some cases they can be better. But this fact has been overlooked. You have all been held back for one reason or another, and at this rate, you will NOT survive the upcoming battles.''

Sarah glared around at the room of girls, all of whom seemed taken aback.

''I hope to remedy this over the next few days,'' she said, speaking a bit quieter now. ''I'm going to give you a fighting chance.''

No-one said anything, which Sarah decided to take as a good sign.

''Right,'' she said briskly, clapping her hands together, ''we'll start with warm-ups.''

''We've already done warm-ups,'' said a sullen voice from her right. Either side of the gloomy-looking girl who had spoken, people were casting her nervous glances, their eyes flitting towards Sarah as if they expected her to lash out.

Sarah was, however, unperturbed, and smiled slightly before saying, ''and I want you to warm up again. There's nothing wrong with being twice as prepared for a rough ride, is there?'

Her brown eyes swept the hall expectantly.

''Well? What are you all waiting for?''

_**Three hours later…**_

''GAAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!'' Sarah groaned loudly as she lay on her back, her hands over her face.

''That bad was it?''

She sat up quickly and spun round to see who had entered. It was Blade. She relaxed slightly and lay back on the floor.

''I don't think _bad_ could begin to describe it,'' she moaned. ''They're untalented, unmotivated and unwilling to accept help!''

''Wow,'' the boy grinned, ''that's a lot of ''un-'s''.''

Sarah simply groaned slightly and she pressed her hands into her eyes. She had a pounding headache.

''And?'' Blade said as he sat down beside her. The brown haired girl didn't need him to elaborate.

''I think about half of them will help us,'' she sighed, taking her hands away from her face again. ''There are a couple with good potential so I may isolate them for a couple of hours this afternoon. As for the rest…''

Sarah hesitated for a moment. Should she take them out of combat? That would be going against her word… but that way they wouldn't die. Mulling it over for a few seconds, she quickly made up her mind.

''I'm going to take them out of combat,'' she sighed.

Out of her peripheral vision she saw Blade frown at her. She tilted her head to the side to get a better look at him. He had to understand this.

''The guys have had a life-time of training to get them ready,'' she said quietly, ''and while the girls have had some training… the SHARK treatments…-''

Sarah sat up slowly and turned to face Blade. Inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly gave her time to organise her thoughts.

''The SHARK treatments that Wutain scientists developed never worked well on girls, they proved that with me. In their eyes it would be pointless to spend too much time on people who could never receive the enhancements.''

Blade continued to frown at her. She could tell he was mulling things over in his head. Sarah looked absent-mindedly around the hall. Surely he was about to ask why she had been trained if this was indeed the case. She wasn't disappointed.

''So it's not that girls are bad fighters, it's just that they weren't trained to be good?'' he asked. Sarah nodded but didn't look at him. ''Well, what about you then? Why did they spend so much time on you if they thought you were a lost cause?''

Sarah sighed and rested her head on her knees. All she wanted was a headache cure and to have lunch with Jen and the others. She didn't fancy explaining all about the silver materia, not when the information was still raw in her head. Finally she looked back up at him.

''They needed a guinea pig didn't they?'' she said, settling on telling the partial truth, ''they needed to find a way to make it work for girls.''

''Mm, sorry,'' he said.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes before Sarah had a sudden idea.

''Hey, you got any plans for lunch?'' she asked. Blade shook his head, looking slightly perplexed. ''Well do you fancy coming to meet the five reasons why I came back to this hell-hole?''

''Huh?''

''The girls I grew up with,'' she explained, ''They're really sweet. Oh and also there's Tseng. He'll be helping with our operation, so yeah, there's six people I want you to meet.''

...

''SARIE!'' came Annie's usual greeting, followed by her tiny body colliding with her own as the little blonde girl hugged her. Sarah laughed and hugged her back.

''How ya doing munchkin?'' she chirruped and placed a kiss on the top of her head, Sarah looked around at the other girls who had been eyeing the two men behind her with caution. ''This is Blade and Tseng,'' she said, motioning each on in turn. ''They're both friends of mine.''

* * *

Sephiroth walked along the corridor towards his apartment. It was on the top floor of the most upscale block of flats in Midgar; all the important people lived around here, or in the surrounding blocks, unless, like the president, they had their own mansion somewhere.

His heavy boots thudded dully on the carpet as he drew up to the door and slid his key out of his coat pocket. Then came the sound of breaking glass sounded from inside his apartment. Letting himself into his home, Sephiroth soon found the cause of the breakage.

Guilty brown eyes stared at him.

''Sorry!'' the boy facing him said hurriedly, and backed off as if he were expecting an attack, ''I'm so, so sorry, I really didn't mean to do that.

Sephiroth sighed and looked down at the broken glass on the floor.

''Perhaps you missed this lesson in whatever you were taught, but glass breaks of you drop it,'' he said as he looked back up at the man who was two years younger than him.

''Right,'' he said distractedly as he bent down to pick up the shards. '''OUCH!''

''What have you done now Brandon,'' said a female voice, as its owner peeked out of Sephiroth's bedroom.

''Broke a glass,'' Sarah's brother mumbled ashamedly, and gestured to his hand which her had cut on the shards.

''I wonder at your being able to live at all,'' Sephiroth smirked, ''surely you know by now that sharp objects can cut you.''

Brandon blushed heavily. Fuchsia laughed and walked over to Brandon.

''I'll get a brush and pan,'' she said lightly, delighting in the confused look she received from her boyfriend. A knock sounded at the door. Sephiroth went to answer it.

''What?'' Brandon said, ''are you going to cook them?''

Fuchsia laughed heartily, as Cissnei entered the apartment, followed by an infantryman. The Turk, who had heard this also laughed.

''He's as bad as Sarah was,'' she said to Sephiroth, and the infantryman nodded.

''Tell me about it,'' Cloud said quietly, blushing when everyone looked at him, including Sephiroth. ''She called me up in the middle of the night once to ask how a frying pan worked, and what purpose conditioner served.''

* * *

''So that's basically it so far,'' Sarah said, when she had finished addressing the table of people. ''It's just a matter of timing your escape,'' she added to Tseng.

She looked around at the rest of the table. The five other girls had remained quite silent throughout this. Blade looked quite confident, and Tseng looked passive.

''So your determined to attempt another escape then?'' Jenifer asked quietly. ''Only last time we all almost died.''

Sarah shuddered and looked down at the table. She had feared this reaction, but they didn't have a choice. There was no way she was going to let them stick around during the fighting.

''It's different than before,'' Sarah said confidently, ''I'm not just some scared little girl who hasn't got a clue. And I'm not doing it alone this time.''

She gestured to Tseng and Blade when she said this.

''All we have to do,'' she continued, ''is sneak you out before the fighting fully starts. We'll hide you somewhere in the woods and station guards with you until it's over.''

There was silence for a few minutes. Annie kept looking around at all the adults, not fully understanding what was going on. She didn't say anything however. It was Alexis who spoke first.

''I'm in,'' she said. Sarah looked at her. She was determined. ''It'll work if we plan it. Like you said Sarah, last time we were unprepared and outnumbered. Not to mention you were the only one who had ever fought before.''

Sarah smiled gratefully at her.

''It's a good plan,'' Blade backed her up. ''And even if we do have to change it, you'll escape with being in as little danger as possible.''

It took some time to convince Jennifer, but once she caved the others went right along with it. It'll work, Sarah thought determinedly, it has to work.

* * *

**Well, there we go. To be honest I really just can't wait to get this story over and done with so I can move onto something else. But don't woory, I'mm still working on improving my writing style, so lets hope the quality doesn't get any worse.**

**As always, reviews are much loved.**

**Thanks,**

**UnchainedMelody94**


	36. Chapter 36

**Well we're getting nearer to the final battle I think. I always new this story wouldn't go on forever, and I'm betting you'll be gald to see it end! ;) Anway, chapter 36...**

* * *

**Chapter 36  
**

Ross was getting annoyed. For two whole days he had been stuck, in Wutai, with potentially the most annoying group of infantrymen ever to grace the earth with their presence. Did he say 'grace'… sorry, the word was curse. Curse, curse, curse, curse and curse. Curse them, curse the Army, and most of all, curse Shinra.

All his boyhood dreams of honour and pride had started to crumble away. All his dreams of becoming a hero were all but gone. Shinra wasn't what it once was. The lies that built the company's facade were being laid bare, one by one. Even without the imposters and spies infiltrating the megacorporation, Ross' view of the company had been going downhill for a long time.

It had all started with Sarah.

He had long had a nagging doubt in the back of his mind as to the validity of this war, and to the true reasons why it had started. It was clear that both sides were to blame, but Shinra more so than Wutai. If Shinra had just backed down when Wutai refused rights to extract Mako from the region, then this stupid war would never have happened in the first place.

Maybe then he never would have applied for SOLDIER and got rejected from the programme. He never would have been embroiled in illegal actions for another, and he could have lived out his life as an ignorant citizen, unaware of Shinra's betrayal to its people.

Betrayal.

What did that word even mean anymore?

Sarah had first betrayed Wutai by running to Shinra, and now she was General of SHARK. She had betrayed Shinra by going back to Wutai, but she still had the support of the three Legendary SOLDIERs and the second class being mentored by Angeal.

She had lied to so many people and yet everyone believed her. Ross wasn't so sure anymore. He knew, just _knew_ that their friendship hadn't been faked, so in a way she did have ties of loyalty to Shinra. Also, the friends of hers held captive by Wutai meant there was plenty reason for her to hate SHARK. Heck, he even got the reason why she had risked going back there twice, but what he didn't get was how, no matter what happened, even if she died, on either side she would be remembered as a hero or a martyr.

Perhaps it was because it had all happened so quickly. She had been a whirlwind, leaving traces of herself in the hearts and heads of so many people. Nearly everyone in Midgar knew her name. She had been front page news when she had made SOLDIER. Not that she knew much about that; her time had been spent in training and heading off to war, only to defect. It hadn't been announced in the papers, but somehow everyone knew. Everyone knew that the first ever female SOLDIER was now leading enemy troops.

And here he was, supposedly fighting her. His friend.

Ross looked wearily down at his gun and sighed. He didn't want to do this mission. They were targeting a group who had been moving through the woods for the past 18 hours. The objective had been very clear – to kill all of them. That worried Ross more than anything else. What if they killed the wrong people? It was perhaps the most frustrating thing in the world; to know who your enemy was, but not have the full confidence that you weren't targeting your allies. The freckled boy looked up as Angeal gave them the signal to move out.

All hell broke loose. Two explosions went off, decimating the first few troops of either side, and blasting back the few who followed. Being near the back, Ross only got a weak shock, but the sound left his ears ringing like a tuning fork. He could hear yells and screams around him, and a hail of gunfire.

The world seemed to slow down around him as his brain managed to catch up with his senses. He could _see_ what the enemy was doing.

There was no way in hell that these were ordinary soldiers. They were _definitely _SHARK.

* * *

Sarah awoke earlier than she would have liked to thanks to the buzzing of her phone. Groaning and shoving off the blankets, she swung her legs out of her bed and glared at the offensive object. It buzzed again. Sorely tempted to smash it, she picked it up and flipped it open.

''Yes?'' she said through clenched teeth.

Rubbing her face with her free hand, she listened intently. As she did, her jaw slowly loosened and fell open.

''Understood, I'm on my way.''

Five minutes later, she was dressed and storming down the halls to D.Z's office.

This was the last thing she needed – an attack from Shinra the morning she was scheduled to meet with Lord Godo. Just what the hell were they playing at! Hadn't all military action been postponed? Zoutun was supposed to be following D.Z's orders by not letting Shinra disrupt their preparations, and Sarah needed more time. Just a couple more days and she would have a plan all worked out and fine-tuned.

She had figured it out at last. The day after her awful training session with the female members of SHARK, she had sat down with Blade and had a good long discussion on what to do. The obvious answer had been the best. Sneak out.

Whilst using the Higher Ranking members of SHARK to create a diversion, the people who couldn't or wouldn't fight could sneak out of the base. It seemed to be the only option available to her right now. She hadn't been able to contact anyone in Shinra, and so couldn't guarantee any help, and until she did, if it ever happened, it was all she had.

Sarah came to a halt outside of the office and took a moment to compose herself. She took one deep breath, and another, and then entered.

''What's going on?'' she demanded as soon as the door opened. The girl glared daggers at D.Z and marched straight up to his desk, quite thankful that it was only the two of them in the room.

''As I said on the phone,'' he stated pleasantly, ''a delegation from the Capital has arrived. Dead. There was an attack right outside this base.''

Sarah gave an irritated huff and glanced away, desperately trying to conceal the momentary panic which had flared inside her. He couldn't think that _she_ had given anyone the location, could he? After all, she hadn't, not yet. She looked back at him.

''Is our position still secure?'' she asked. He looked intently at her for a long moment, but when she didn't relinquish her gaze, he said evenly, ''For now. There is no indication that they thought our base is here, especially when they station a small ambush force right next to our entrance.''

Sarah nodded in approval and began to pace slowly. D.Z continued to watch her, waiting for when the realization of what this meant hit her. It didn't take long.

''Wait!'' she exclaimed, wheeling round to face him, ''the delegation from the Leader of Wutai was attacked! But Lord Godo is going to think we did it!''

''Precisely,'' he smiled, seemingly pleased that she had cottoned on so fast, ''which is why there is a change in plans. You and Lieutenant Tyler will depart immediately to entreat Godo personally. I feel it may seem less threatening than sending a whole load of soldiers up there behind you.''

''Oh yeah, sending the two best fighters is _so _much more innocent looking,'' Sarah muttered sarcastically.

''It will be an act of faith,'' he said forcefully, his chair creaking as her leaned forward to get his point across, '' the camp has been specially set up for negotiations, surrounded by both Shinra and Wutai troops. True, it is not many, and they are there only to ensure the negotiations are kept civil, but what a statement it would make if you were to walk in there, in person, without a cohort of soldiers for back-up!''

Sarah looked at him for a minute, unease clearly etched upon her face. It _would _seem like a bold move, and if she was going to turn the tide in her favour, she would need to be _very_ bold indeed.

''I'd be walking into trap laid bare,'' she said quietly, ''and all I would have to get out of it would be my words.''

D.Z leaned back again, smirking. His grey eyes sparkled malevolently in the light. ''And why would you need anything more? ABOVE ALL ELSE, Lord Godo fears Shinra bringing their Mako reactors here, and he cannot win this was without our help.''

Sarah nodded slowly to show she understood.

''And when we help Godo win the war…?''

''Then we will be the most powerful force in the world, and you will be at its helm! Just think – we could tear down all the life-sucking atrocities that Shinra have built, and build a future in our image!''

No more mako reactors… She couldn't deny that sounded good, even if it was coming from _his_ mouth.

''We will leave immediately. I will contact you after the initial meeting if I can.''

* * *

It took two hours on speedy Chocobo mounts to reach the capital, and from then on only a further five minutes to reach the negotiations camp situated a mile or so from the city. Sarah and Tyler hopped off of their Chocobos and made their way to the edge of a cliff, from which they could see the whole layout. The two of them had scarce said a word to each other the entire trip, and Sarah was beginning to worry that he was plotting something. She wouldn't put it past him; while he may think that they were allies, they were most definitely not friends. The most they could muster up for each other was a grudging sense of respect for their prowess in battle.

Sarah glanced at Tyler, who was crouched down next to her.

''What do you think?'' she asked to break the unnerving silence. Tyler's hazel eyes locked onto hers.

''This is stupid, they're only going to attack us as soon as we show our faces,'' he cautioned. He averted his eyes to sweep once more over the camp. Sarah did the same.

''You're probably right,'' she sighed. ''We need to plan how we're going to play this.''

The layout of the camp was quite simple. There were two sections of tents, one for Shinra troops and one for Wutai. They were both separated by the path which led up to the large tent where negotiation took place. According to D.Z, Lord Godo also resided in that tent.

A lot of the time the tents would remain empty. They would only be filled in talks were in progress. Neither side wanted to risk seeing what would happen if the opposition were to lay too close to each other for too long.

''Looks like there could be enough room for forty of fifty from each side,'' Sarah muttered.

Tyler nodded, confirming her suspicions, and then said with no hesitation, ''but not too many to deal with should they choose to attack.''

Sarah sighed and looked to the horizon. The sun, which was now casting a serene light over the valley, had risen not half an hour earlier. ''There will be a SOLDIER presence here – that could complicate things,'' she said with a small grimace. ''There will be at least two representatives, and hopefully one of them will not be Sephiroth.''

Tyler smirked and cocked his head towards her. ''Why not,'' he teased with slight amusement. ''Having second thoughts about your ability to fight him.''

Sarah swallowed and took a moment to compose her reply.

''Not exactly,'' she began, ''it's just that… he and I… well-''

Sarah sighed and shook her head. She _knew_ what would happen if she ran into him too soon; she couldn't back down from fighting him, and he wouldn't back down from a challenge. Add in her emotional instability regarding how she felt about him and it became an incredibly volatile mix.

''We need to show Godo that we are a force that he can control, and that I am a person who will listen to him – I'm not sure how plausible that would seem if I suddenly try to decapitate my counterpart in Shinra.''

''What are you talking about,'' Tyler snorted derisively, ''we don't need to show we can be _controlled_. If you show Godo power he'll take it!''

''We can't be sure of that!'' Sarah snapped across him.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes to calm herself before continuing, allowing the smell of nature to calm her senses. The bird song resonating through the air was like a mothers lullaby.

''We should entreat Godo in private,'' she said eventually, opening her eyes and looking forcefully at her second in command. ''If we succeed in gaining his trust, then we can make a surprise entrance in the next set of negotiations; it will throw Shinra off balance.''

''Tch, fine,'' Tyler conceded. ''If you want to go down before negotiations start, there are some caves which are used for an emergency retreat for Godo, you know, should the talks go sour.''

Sarah followed where he was pointing. All she could see was a small cluster of rocks about half a mile away, near which a flock of birds were circling, looking for easy prey to snatch up for their breakfast.

''Sounds good,'' she admitted reluctantly. ''We'll leave the Chocobos here, take only what we need.''

* * *

Genesis yawned heavily as he pulled on his leather boots. He hated being out in Wutai, having always much preferred the city to any nature filled places. However, he had been drafted in to accompany Angeal to the negotiations. Unfortunately for Genesis though, Angeal had been lucky enough to get an assignment to take down a group of soldiers who had been travelling south. This meant that Genesis would be stuck heading talks for the day, along with the other delegates from Shinra.

Today's talks were scheduled for 'an hour after sunrise' which was about ten minutes from now. He stood up, stretched his arms above his head and reached for his red leather coat. He was just pulling it on when an infantryman rushed into his tent and saluted him.

''Sir, sorry for the intrusion,'' he said, standing at attention, ''but Lord Godo had sent a messenger requiring the talks to be pushed back until tonight.''

''What?'' Genesis snapped, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. ''Did Godo give a reason why?''

''No sir.''

The SOLDIER 1st folded his arms across his chest and let out a huff of air, just as the barely noticeable sound of someone entering the tent from the back reached his ears. ''Very well, you're dismissed.''

The infantryman scuttled out of the tent. Genesis waited a few seconds to ensure he was out of earshot before turning to face his guest. ''What news?''

''Godo has visitors,'' Reno said, plonking himself down on Genesis' bed and making himself comfortable. ''I didn't get a good look at them, but there are two Chocobos tethered up on the ridge.''

Genesis glanced out of the tent flap, as if expecting someone to be there. ''Do you think they are in the camp?'' he asked the Turk who was now lying down, hands tucked behind his head as he stared at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought.

''Dunno,'' he yawned, ''no-one has seen anything.''

''Someone would have noticed if there were two new arrivals, this is a small camp,'' the SOLDEIR intoned.

''Whatever man, I need to get some shut eye,'' Reno groaned.

Genesis waved his hand dismissively and pulled out his phone. Surely Angeal would be done with his mission by now. He dialled his best friend's number. It rang three times before anyone picked up.

''Angeal speaking,'' came the voice from the other end of the line.

''Good to hear you're still alive,'' Genesis smirked playfully, ''how did it go?''

''Well…we won,'' came the reply, but the hesitation was severely evident, ''but just barely. No doubt about it, these were definitely SHARK.''

Genesis frowned. That couldn't be possible – those SOLDIERS had been sent from the capital. Did that mean Sarah had already contacted Godo, or maybe someone else had done it already. After all, Tyler had been working for Godo before Sarah had defected to Wutai the first time. This wasn't good. How many things had played out without their knowledge?

''And do you remember Instructor Keller?'' Angeal continued.

''Yes, he always gave the cadets a rough time. I remember Sarah complaining about him repeatedly,'' Genesis responded, rolling his eyes as he remembered Sarah saying she wished she could smash his head in with a pile of Chocobo excrement.

''Well he was one of them. He managed to put up one hell of a fight; he took out about half of my unit.''

Genesis swore quietly. ''I hope you got him back for that!''

''No worries, they were all taken care of,'' he said, but again the hesitation was back in his voice, ''but uh… there's something Sarah isn't going to be too happy about if we ever run into her.''

''Oh yeah?''

''That friend of hers, Ross Winters… he's dead. He lost an arm and received a massive head injury. There was too much haemorrhaging… we couldn't save him.''

Genesis sighed. He could sympathise with her, though no-one who was very close to him had died, he had seen a lot of men die in battle, and a lot of grieving to accompany it. Considering the strain already upon Sarah at the moment, he doubted whether she should be made aware of this development. Not when so much was riding on her shoulders.

But they were getting off the point. He had yet to bring up the real reason why he had called Angeal.

''You haven't heard anything about Sarah have you; do you know where she is?'' the red-head asked.

''No,'' was the confused response, ''why, is something up? You weren't planning on breaking it to her in person were you?''

''No,'' Genesis hastened to say, ''I don't think she could handle it right now. The reason I'm asking is because two Chocobos have been tethered near the negotiations camp. I was wondering if you knew whether Sarah has started trying to negotiate with Lord Godo?''

There was silence one Angeal's end of the line for over ten seconds.

''I haven't heard anything, but if she is…''

''I know, old friend,'' Genesis agreed sombrely, ''Sephiroth isn't going to like this one bit…''

* * *

Sarah cursed as she stumbled down a rocky passage which, according to Tyler would lead straight to Lord Godo's back door. Getting to the entrance had been easy enough, but getting into the tunnels a nightmare. The entrance had been well covered up – with boulders. Taking into account that they didn't want to draw attention to themselves, they had been forced to manually push the rocks out of their way. Doing that whilst trying to be discreet was borderline self-harming.

''Remind me why I agreed to this?'' Sarah muttered angrily as she narrowly managed to avoid taking her eye out on a protruding piece of rock for a third time.

''Calm down, we're almost there,'' Tyler smirked, clearly enjoying her discomfort.

Sarah glowered at the back of his head, wishing very much that she could just impale him on a very sharp piece of rock and leave him there for the wildlife to find and devour.

''Yeah well we better be,'' Sarah growled, but the need for her threats was abolished when, true to his word, Tyler found the exit and went through, only to be faced with a dozen spears.

''Oh-kaaay…'' Sarah muttered, as Tyler was pulled forward roughly while he demanded to be treated with respect. The girl decided it would be best to intervene before they skewered him and took the joy of killing him away from her.

''Put you weapons down!'' Sarah demanded in her most 'General like' voice as she stepped through the opening, brimming with false confidence. ''I am General Sarah Faller of SHARK, and this is my Lieutenant; we are here to speak with Lord Godo.''

_Please don't shoot me…_

* * *

**Ta-da! I know this chapter was a bit of a let down, but more action will be coming! Not to mention Sarah and Sephiroth's reunion... mwahahaha! (Don't ask about the laugh, I'm just a few fries short of a happy meal!)**

**Anyway, reviews are always welcome, and thanks for reading,  
**

**UnchainedMelody94  
**


	37. Chapter 37

_**Look at me, I'm being a good little girl by updating! Don't I deserve a nice treaty-treat? Hmm? LOL! Please enjoy!**_

_**By the Way MORE THAN 200 REVIEWS!  
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_**THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has ledt a review; kind or not your words have given me the inspiration to carry on with what many thoguth was a lost cause, so thank you, thank you! (showers you all with roses and cookies)  
**_

* * *

**Chapter 37**

Sarah was feeling a bit hard done by. She couldn't count how many times in her life she had been led somewhere at gun or blade point. It didn't get any less annoying. The tunnel of caves led almost straight into the tent, to a room in the back. It was in this place that Wutain officials would meet before going into the conference room. Seated at the head of the large square table was Lord Godo himself.

He wasn't as old as Sarah thought he would be, in fact he looked to be about in his early thirties. His hair was pitch black and he wore a traditional dark blue robe. His eyes locked onto her as she and Tyler were escorted into the room. Not waiting to be introduced, Sarah took half a step forward and bowed respectfully to the leader of Wutai.

''My Lord Godo, it is an honour,'' she said evenly, and straightened up to look him fully in the eye. ''I am Sarah, General of the force known as SHARK. I am truly sorry to not have met you under more pleasing circumstances, but I come offering my services to you in Wutai's hour of need.''

Sarah's speech was met with an expectant silence. Godo's eyes continued to search her, as hers did him. He looked tired, she noted. The war must have been putting a lot of strain on him. She could only imagine what it must feel like, to watch the country you love crumble away, eroded by war. After quite a few moments, Sarah began to wonder if he would just send her away, or maybe arrest her. However, when he did finally respond, it was only to send his guards away, leaving only him, Tyler and Sarah in the room.

''Sit down,'' Godo said with an air of caution. The female General gave another short bow before moving to sit across from Godo, Tyler electing to stay on his feet, stationed just behind her on her right. Sarah rested her hands on the arms of her chair and crossed one leg over the other in an attempt to seem relaxed.

''I did not expect you,'' Godo admitted, shifting slightly in his chair so his weight was on his left arm. He looked as though he would be ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Sarah bowed her head gravely in agreement. ''To what to I owe this visit?''

''I'm afraid unfortunate circumstances were the reason for our hasty departure and abrupt arrival here; the party you sent to us was attacked by Shinra troops and decimated. Therefore, any message you were trying to send us had not been received,'' Sarah replied smoothly.

One of Godo's thick eyebrows was raised at this, but he seemed unusually unperturbed by the news. As it was, he seemed to be only mildly interested. This worried Sarah; thought they weren't _officially_ allies yet, she had always thought there to be a mutual friendship between the two groups.

''The party I returned to you were members of SHARK,'' Godo imparted. He didn't continue, but seemed to be waiting on Sarah for a response. The girl cast a half-glance at Tyler before deciding to speak again.

''I… do not understand, my Lord,'' she replied in confusion. ''I was given the impression that you would welcome our aid, and that this proposal would be new to you. Am I to understand that our friendship has already been offered and declined?''

Godo fixed her with a patronising glare.

''You understand correctly,'' Godo growled. ''I will not have the noble name of my warriors tarred with the same brush as yours – you are monsters. I would rather lose this war with honour than resort to employing your like again. The man beside you has already proven that you are unstable. I cannot have such people mixing with my own men.''

Sarah cast another glance at Tyler. He had a poorly disguised smirk on his lips. She turned back to face Godo.

''I am sorry if my Lieutenant has offended you in some way, but it is I who have come before you today, not Tyler. I am his General, and he will follow my orders just as any soldier would obey their commanding officers. It is with me that you will deal, and I can assure you that I am trustworthy.''

Tyler gave an involuntary twitch at this last sentence, but it went unnoticed by Godo.

''And what makes you so much better?'' Godo challenged. ''Your dealings with Shinra – I know that you held a position in SOLDIER. As far as I am aware, you are my enemy.''

''No, I'm not,'' Sarah said, and actually meant it from the bottom of her heart. ''All I want is to protect the beauty and independence of Wutai from… other parties.''

Sarah looked at Godo meaningfully. It seemed that he understood her; she was here to protect Wutai from both Shinra and SHARK. It was true, she had decided it days ago; Sarah would do her best to make certain that SHARK were beaten _and_ that Mako reactors never came to Wutai. Whether or not this could be done remained to be seen.

Not that Godo would know this. All he could be aware of at this moment was that she would prevent SHARK form trying to seize power from him and assume control over his lands.

''I do not expect an answer right away,'' Sarah continued, leaning back in her chair, ''though I hope you may have reached a decision by nightfall? That should be enough time for you to think it through, given the circumstances.''

* * *

Talks, from small discussions to massive meetings were held during the rest of the day. Tyler and she were present for some, but the majority were conducted without their presence. Tyler advised that this may be a good time to rest up and gather some information but Godo had different ideas. He locked the two of them in a room for most of the day, and only let them out when he had need of them.

Finally, after what seemed more like a week than a half a day, Godo made up his mind.

He accepted.

Now, Sarah had thought that she would be very happy about this, but as the day progressed she began to realise that she could be making a very huge mistake. The ideal outcome of the war would be for Shinra to win, but for Wutai to hold enough ground do that the building of mako reactors could be at least _delayed. _However, as it stood, Sarah could not foresee a clean outcome. She simply had too many cards to play with.

Primarily she needed SHARK defeated. That would take Shinra's help, but she couldn't guarantee that would happen. That would mean asking Godo and _his_ army for help, yet something he said had put a stopper to that idea;

''_Although I hesitate to accept your proposal, I would never seek a fight with you, for you, too, go against Shinra…''_

The whole foundation of Sarah's plan to defeat SHARK relied on a two-way attack. In conclusion, she would have to pay a visit to one of her SOLDIER friends and hope they didn't behead her on sight.

Secondly she had to find a way of commanding two armies without arousing suspicions as to her true intent. Just how the hell was she supposed to do that! She would be expected to lead an attack on Shinra but if she did she wouldn't have their alliance anymore. If she didn't she would be found out for sure.

And after that, there was all the loose ends to tie up; finding the real President, saving her friends, and finding a way to help Wutai avoid having Mako rectors forced upon them. There was no way in hell she could do all of this. No way at all.

_I suppose all I can do now is push forward, _Sarah thought dismally. She checked the time on her watch. The negotiations would be about midway through. It was time to make her grand entrance.

* * *

Genesis and three representatives of Shinra were standing the war conference room around the long wooden table. They had been at it for hours the previous night, negotiating the terms of Wutai's surrender while Sephiroth flitted between Junon and Midgar organising reserve troops to bring to Wutai. Lord Godo had only two representatives present, a Lieutenant, as their General had been killed a week previously, and a wispy looking strategist that looked as though a sneeze might finish him off.

LaCrusso, an instructor for SOLDIER cadets when not in Wutai, was leading the negotiations in Sephiroth's place, Genesis simply acting as body guard and SOLDIER presence.

The previous night, the negotiations had been going well, but since the surprise visitors of this morning, Lord Godo seemed to be filled with new confidence. This didn't bode well for Genesis, for he knew just who and what could have given him such a boost; Sarah. The usual threats of ''Your troops are severely depleted'' and ''you aren't going to last much longer at any rate, quit now and end the suffering of your people'' were seemingly bouncing off of him. Half an hour into the negotiations, a messenger entered the room and whispered something to Lord Godo, and a quick smirk flashed on his face. The messenger scurried out of the room, as Godo turned back to the war conference, all traces of smugness vanished from his face. Genesis eyed Godo intently, but no other indication was given as to his reaction.

Barely half a minute later, a strong female voice preceded its owner into the room. Genesis felt his chest tighten.

''All negotiations will cease immediately,'' Sarah commanded as she entered the room and every eye landed on her. Tyler followed her two steps behind. Genesis barely contained his exclamation as Sarah strode around and stood on the right hand side of Godo. She looked as though she belonged there as she stood straight backed and proud, exuding a powerful aura that had the SOLDIER taken-aback. All eyes flicked from Sarah to Godo, and back to Sarah again.

''Fight fire with fire,'' Godo chuckled, ''may I present the General of both SHARK and of my army, Sarah Faller, and her Lieutenant Tyler McCabe.''

Sarah tried desperately not to tremble as her eyes flicked to Genesis who was staring at her intently. She needed to give him some sign that she was still on his side, but the other people from the Shinra delegation were glaring at her so she couldn't do a thing.

As soon as Godo had finished talking all hell broke loose. Accusations flew through the air - Shinra saying that this was not allowed and that this was a set-up, while Godo laughed, saying that if Shinra wanted to cheat by sending SOLDIER into the war, that Wutai were entitled to do the same with SHARK. Soon though, it looked as though thing were going to take a violent turn so, feeling reckless, Sarah march forward and slammed her fist down on the table with such ferocity that it cracked.

The action silenced the room in an instant. Everyone was staring intently at the only girl present, and Genesis had his hand on the handle of his rapier, ready to fight if he needed to. Sarah tried to ignore this gesture fearing that she might let an unwanted reaction slip. She _did_ need to communicate with his in some way, but now was not the time to do it, not with everyone staring at her.

''Negations. Are. Over.'' Sarah said slowly and clearly and her eyes flashed dangerously, a definite sense of finality to her words. One of the Shinra delegates looked ready to order Genesis to attack, but instead he straightened out his suit and then nodded to the others.

With a jolt, Sarah realised this could be the last chance to signal to Genesis that this was all a ploy, so with her back turned to Tyler and Godo, and the Shinra delegates all turning to leave, Sarah gave Genesis a shadow of a wink. Whether he got it or not remained a mystery and he gave no reaction to it. Maybe this had only been because Tyler had been watching him with a smirk.

Sarah watched their retreating backs as they disappeared into the night before turning back to the two remaining men in the room. The other Wutain officials seemed to have been dismissed by the Wutain leader without her knowledge. Tyler was standing near the door, his arms folded over his chest and a look of victory plastered on his face. Lord Godo however, was sitting in his high backed wooden chair and was eyeing her appreciatively.

''Demetrio was not wrong about you,'' he said in response to her questioning gaze, ''you are a force to be reckoned with.''

Sarah chuckled dusted of her hands, the leather of her coat creaking as she did so. She had decided not to go with SHARK's usual attire of murky brown-purple trousers, and similarly coloured top accompanied by what looked like a loincloth. Instead she wore black jeans and a black sleeveless top under a fitting brown leather coat, which was apparently in fashion in Junon. Not that she cared too much, but she wanted to stand out a bit from the others. She also wore her hair up in a high ponytail now, having been annoyed how it constantly got in her way while fighting.

''And I'll continue to prove it to you,'' Sarah replied smoothly and gave a small bow before she turned to Tyler, ''I want you to report back to headquarters right away and tell D.Z the good news. Also, continue training the others and make sure everyone is ready for the upcoming battles.'' She turned back to the seated man. ''Lord Godo, I will remain here for the time being. There are many thing that need to be seen to.

* * *

Reno was bored out of his mind. He had set up camp about half a mile from Shinra's main encampment and was currently lying on his back staring at the leafy canopy above him. What he wouldn't give for some decent action…

The wildlife in these parts was no challenge for such an upstanding member of the Turks as himself. No, he wanted a proper _mission. _Something to break the monotony of being declared dead and forces to hover around in Wutai for the off-chance he would be able to do anything useful.

So far all he had managed to do was try to chat up a tree in his sleep.

He was just getting ready to get some sleep when her heard a branch crack. Then footsteps – this person wasn't ever trying to be discreet!

Quiet as the breeze permeating the forest, Reno snaked into a tree and waited. Whoever it was was getting closer and closer - his hand found him EM Rod and gripped it - just a few more seconds and… the figure came into sight. Reno's jaw dropped; he _knew_ that someone.

He dropped down right in front of the unsurprised person.

''Hey boss,'' he said casually, ''Thought you were dead.''

Tseng scowled at his subordinate.

''I am touched that you cared so much,'' he said dryly, ''However we have much to accomplish and timing is everything.''

* * *

Sarah's heart was pounding so hard in her chest she was worried that she may vomit. She was creeping behind the Shinra tents in the dead of the morning. There were two very sleepy guards outside of the biggest one so she hazarded a guess that this would be where Genesis was sleeping. Keeping her fingers crossed and hardly daring to breath, she wriggled under the back wall of the tent and came up right under someone's bed.

Moving as slowly as she could she crawled out from under the bed and took a quick glance around. No-one else was in here, and sure enough on the bed was a sleeping Genesis. Sarah got up onto her feet and then cocked her head to the side as she watched him sleep. Just at that moment he looked nothing like a borderline psychotic literature addict who could drive anyone insane just by quoting from a book.

Suddenly covered her mouth and suppressed a giggle. Now was _not_ the time to be wondering if someone really did wet themselves if you put their hand in a bowl of water. Though, the temptation to prank him was strong, just to get him back for being himself, which is to say lovable but kind of annoying.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rapier leaning against the wall. Thinking it would be best to move it to where he wouldn't be able to use it to decapitate her, she reached out her hand. Before she got near it through, a large firm hand grabbed hold of her wrist and she found herself flipped onto the bed with Genesis pinning her down and the red sword at her throat.

''Well if it isn't the General of SHARK,'' He growled, pressing the sharp blade against her skin, ''to what to I owe the intrusion?''

''Hey Genesis,'' Sarah managed to choke out with a strained grin. This was met with the blade being pressed further into her. She felt the skin rip at begin to ooze blood.

_Wow, he's really taking this whole sneak into his room and steal his sword thing a bit too seriously, _Sarah thought.

''Tell me, if you would, what you were trying to do just now with my sword?'' Genesis questioned with a dangerous edge to his voice.

''Well I was thinking of lobbing your head off with it-'' she joked but it was met with an angry growl. Sarah sighed, ''I was trying to get it out of the way so _this_ wouldn't happen. I only wanted to talk to you.''

Genesis smirked dangerously. Sarah was still very aware that his blade hadn't moved from her throat. ''I'm listening.''

Sarah licked her lips nervously. ''Well, I-I got myself into a bit of a bind.''

Genesis almost laughed. The pressure of his blade lessened ever so slightly.

''Really?'' He asked with a smile. ''How amusing…'

''Oh thanks,'' Sarah replied with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Her eyes flicked once to his blade. ''Um, could you get off me now?''

Genesis shook his head in disbelief, but did as he was asked. He leant Rapier against the wall before sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing Sarah.

''So,''he said, as he settled, ''tell me about this bind of yours.''

It took a surprisingly small amount of time to explain the predicament to Genesis. She told him all that had happened since they had helped her to escape Shinra building; how she had come straight back to Wutai to carry on with her original plan, how she had wormed her way back into D.Z's employ, and all that had happened with Godo that day.

''And that's about it. I told Tyler to go back to base so I could talk to Godo alone. I get the impression that if he could ensure that Shinra held off with the mako reactors that he would simply pick the winning side to co-operate with. Honestly, I'm astonished he doesn't just back off and let SHARK and Shinra duke it out. Then again, it is his country which is the battlefield, so…''

Sarah looked at Genesis expectantly, waiting for him to tell her that she was an idiot and had only made things worse for them; that she should have done as she was told and stayed out of the picture, like a good little girl.

''You're being ridiculous,'' he said after a moments deliberation.

Sarah blinked. She opened her mouth to defend herself but Genesis cut across her.

''You want everything – you're being childish. Running around, thinking you can play God to get the results you want; war doesn't work like that. It's messy, and damn hard to manipulate. From where I'm standing, all your plans are going to either crash and burn, or backfire on you.''

Sarah looked down at her hands miserably. She didn't think she was being childish – it wasn't only her wishes she was fighting for.

''However,'' Genesis said, causing her to look up at him again, ''I can see where you're coming from, and maybe, just maybe, with some tweaking, we can pull it off.''

''You mean you'll…'' Sarah looked up at him with a mixture of hope and amazement.

''Of course I will,'' Genesis smirked. ''Every story needs a Hero to come swooping in to save the day, so I shall be yours!''

Sarah only just managed to resist rolling her eyes at him.

* * *

**_Whoop!_**

**_Not long now me thinks, so keep reading! (Reviews make me all warm and fuzzy inside)_**


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